Accra, July 22, GNA - An official of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) on Tuesday identified the period between 1500 and 1600 hours on Election Day as potential electoral manipulation time zone and urged politicians, electoral observers and the media to be extra vigilant at that time.

He noted that this was the slack period on voting day as the heavy turn-out in the morning shrank, paving the way for some party agents shirking their responsibilities. This, he said, created room for unscrupulous politicians in collaboration with some electoral officials to unleash their rigging machinery.

"We can only prevent it if all political parties recruited committed and educated party agents who are conversant with the electoral laws and election day activities," Mr. John Larvie, Elections Coordinator of CDD Ghana, stated at a two-day Election Reporting and Capacity Building training workshop for journalists in Accra.

The workshop organized by the Deutsche Welle Akademie of Germany in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom seeks to energize Ghanaian journalists for this year's election activities.

Mr. Larvie who spoke on "the Role of Elections in Democratic Societies," said the conduct of free, fair and transparent election was a shared responsibility among the various stakeholders - electoral administrators, contesting political parties, civil society organizations, the media and the electorate. He urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that all eligible Ghanaians had impartial and non-discriminatory access to the register during the up-coming limited voter registration exercise, fixed to begin on July 31.

Mr. Larvie, who is a former Public Affairs Director of the EC, also expressed disquiet about abuse of incumbency by operatives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and suggested that, "Government functionaries should be charged for the use of state resources for political gain". He urged the media to play their watchdog role effectively by checking on incumbency abuse.

Mrs. Dagmar Traub-Evans of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in-charge of Economic, Cultural and Press Affairs said Election 2008 offered Ghanaians an opportunity to deepen the nation's democratic credentials.

She said the international community would be keenly watching the politics in the country and urged the media to continue to maintain their neutrality to ensure that the electorate was fed with accurate information.

Mr Charles Achaye-Odong, Project Manager of Deutsche Welle Akademie, said the institute was committed to the promotion and support of international media development by providing training and consultancy to radio and television stations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Arab World and Eastern Europe. 22 July 08

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