Sekondi, Oct 22, GNA - Mr Steve Opoku-Mensah, Western

Regional Director, Electoral Commission of Ghana, on Thursday,

called for a 20 per cent increase in women's participation in this

years' district assembly elections, slated for December 28. He made the call in the wake of a very low representation of

women in the local governance process over the years, particularly

in the region. Mr Opoku-Mensah in an interview with the GNA said statistics

indicated that between 2002 and 2006, the percentage of women

candidates rose from 6.4 to 8.6 per cent respectively, adding that,

the fingers were below an appreciable level. "The region has 452 electoral areas and the early the women get

involved in the district assembly elections, the better it would be for

the country", he added. Mr Opoku-Mensah said the 20 per cent increase would therefore

mark the beginning of a good social awareness and involvement and

urged women in the region to actively participate, by filing

nominations for elections, come December 28.