Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), on Tuesday said district level elections were more important than presidential and parliamentary elections and urged women to participate fully in the impending elections.

He said: “Instead of throwing your clothes on the floor for presidential candidates you don’t know, contest the District Level Elections or vote for candidates you know well in your localities for development,” he said.

Dr Afari-Gyan said this at a workshop for women in the Volta Region on “Enhancing the Participation of Marginalised Groups in Elections,” sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.

He said district level elections gave the citizenry a voice in governance and that it was strange that women were not interested in that system.

Dr Afari-Gyan described the district assemblies as the best medium for development and urged women to be “most active” in the system and help find solutions to issues affecting women and the environment.

He said the excuse of lack of time was not tenable because the assembly ideally sat for only three or six times in a year, which could not affect one’s work.

Madam Laurentia Kpatakpa, Volta Regional Director of EC, said the workshop was to see an increase in the participation of marginalised groups in the district level elections.

Some women at the workshop said tradition and politics were major factors contributing to the marginalisation of women.

A source at the Electoral Commission in Ho told the Ghana News Agency that only about 135 women were contesting assembly elections in the Volta Region out of 1,934 candidates for 661 electoral areas.

For unit committee elections, the source said out of 3,495 contestants, only 342 were women for the 661 electoral areas contesting for the district level elections scheduled for March 3, this year.