Accra, Dec. 23, GNA - Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Information and National Orientation, on Tuesday said if the December 7 presidential polls had not ended in a runoff "we will not have been here by now".

He told journalists that the runoff of the presidential election was the handiwork of God, saying that if the results had gone either way, it would have had negative repercussions on the stability of the country.

Mr Asamoah-Boateng quoted the Bible to urge the electorate to "be still" and know that the hand of God would be at work in the December 28 poll also.

"Let us not be overly pre-occupied with December 28 polls as if there is no country to manage after the elections - we still have a country to run after the elections and we must not mar the future of the country with just one day of voting," he said.

The Minister said the incumbent government was committed to the spirit of democracy and the progress of the nation, and called on the opposition National Democratic Congress to also affirm their commitment to same.

He touched on the issue of the closure of the Ghana-Togo border on voting day and said that "as far as I know the security agencies are blocking unapproved routes to prevent people from coming into the country through those routes but the official borders have not been closed as of now," he said.

Mr Asamoah-Boateng called on the Electoral Commission to ensure that the secrecy of the ballot was protected. The Minister also used the opportunity to express his sincere apologies to those, who felt offended by some pronouncements of his in the course of the year.