Tamale, August 3, GNA - Mr. Isaac Asomaning, Northern Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, has given the assurance that the Commission is ready for the August 11 District Assembly elections in Tamale and Yendi. He said 142 candidates, made up of 139 men and three women had so far filed their nomination papers to contest the elections in the 54 electoral areas in the Tamale Metropolis, while 109 candidates, all men, are contesting the elections in the 42 electoral areas in Yendi. Mr. Asomaning, who was speaking to the GNA in an interview said: "We are on course, training of election officials is starting on Thursday and Friday."

"The printers are working hard on the ballot papers and I hope that the ballot papers will arrive in good time for distribution," he added. Mr. Asomaning appealed to the electorate in the Tamale Metropolis and Yendi District to conduct themselves to ensure peaceful elections. The District Assembly elections in the Tamale Metropolis and Yendi were put on hold as a result of a chieftaincy crisis in Dagbon during which Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, King of Dagbon, was killed and the subsequent imposition of a state of emergency in the two areas.

The death of the Ya-Na caused a state of unrest, especially in Tamale and Yendi and the government had to impose a state of emergency to help calm the situation in the those areas.

Following the relative peace, which has prevailed in the two districts, the government lifted the state of emergency to pave the way for the elections.

For the past four years, Interim Management Committees have been administering affairs of the Tamale Metropolitan and the Yendi District Assemblies.