Wa, Dec. 4, GNA - About 276,378 people are expected to cast their votes in 854 polling stations in Upper West Region during the Presidential and Parliamentary elections on Sunday, December 7. Fifty-two Parliamentary Candidates including three independent candidates would contest in 10 Constituencies in the Region. The National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP) and People's National Convention (PNC) each have 10 candidates while Democratic People's Party has five and Democratic Freedom Party have four candidates. The Reformed Patriotic Democrats has no Parliamentary Candidate contesting in the Region.

Out of the 10 Parliamentary seats, NDC currently has seven, while the PNC has two and NPP one.

Speaking to Ghana News Agency at Wa on Tuesday, Mr Yahaya Mahama Upper West Regional Director of Electoral Commission, said ballot papers and all the other election materials were received last week and were in the safe custody of the police at the various District Police Headquarters.

He said they could not immediately foresee any challenges and expressed the hope that people would exercise their franchise freely on Sunday, December 7, without encountering any difficulties. Mr Kwasi Appiah Boateng, Upper West Regional Police Commander said the security agencies would not compromise on security at the polling stations and warned that every polling station would be treated as a potential flash point.

He gave the assurance that they had enough security personnel to cover all the 854 polling stations in the Region adding that the security personnel would be at the polling stations to keep peace and not to intimidate anyone. Meanwhile, leadership of the political parties in the Region have appealed to their supporters to turn out massively on voting day to cast their ballots with each of them expressing optimism of winning the polls.

Mr Kale Caesar, Upper West Regional Secretary of NDC said the Party would win all the 10 seats this year and sweep 85 per cent of the Presidential votes.

He said the NDC was leaving nothing to chance and had therefore strategised appropriately to achieve that ambition. Mr Ibrahim Tamaa, Upper West Regional Secretary of NPP said the Party was poised to add Lambussie, Lawra/Nandom, Wa Central and Sissala East constituencies to the Wa East which it currently held in Parliament.

He said NPP was optimistic to win about 50 per cent of the popular votes in the Region for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, its Presidential Candidate.

Mr Abu Mumuni, Upper West Regional Chairman of CPP said they were sure to grab the Sissala West Constituency seat. All the political parties expressed their satisfaction with the level of preparations for the elections so far. However, the NDC and NPP urged the EC not to allow the minor incidents that occurred during the special voting exercise to recur on December 7. 04 Dec. 08