Ho, (V/R) May 23, GNA - An official of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to fix June 18 to 23 as the official date for the mopping-up of the photo-taking exercise in the Volta region. Mr Francis K. Ganyaglo, the NDC Volta regional Secretary, asked the Commission to give the electorate in the region more time to participate in the exercise.

He said that was necessary because of the confusion created among electorates in the region due to the initial mistake in the announcement of the date for the exercise.

Mr Ganyaglo who lead newsmen to tour some constituencies in the region said the exercise was characterised by low turn out due to lack of sufficient information on the change of date for the exercise. He said heavy downpours, insufficient and defective cameras had affected the exercise.

Mr Ganyaglo said the EC did not sufficiently inform residents of the Region about the new date, adding that even the few, who were aware and reported for the exercise, were faced with difficulties such as long queues.

Newsmen observed during the tour that the initial anxiety that characterised the exercise, which saw people rushing to form queues at the beginning had died down. There was orderly movement of people in queues at all the centres visited by the team.

Some of the constituencies newsmen visited include; Ho East, Ho Central, Hohoe North and North Dayi. Mr Robert Attamah, District Electoral Officer for Ho, explained to newsmen that shortages in films arose as a result of wastage by some of the photographers whiles some of the cameras were not serviced before usage in the region.

According to the EC, registration officers had mistakenly quoted June 18 to June 23, 2004 as the period for the issuance of photo Identification Cards in the Volta Region instead of May 18 to May 23. 23 May 04