The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana promised here Wednesday it will ensure that Friday's general election is conducted in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful manner.

Speaking to the media here to round up preparations for Ghana's general election, the Chairman of the EC, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said each of the districts had received all electoral materials and voting shall kick off at 7 a.m. on Friday.

He said the biometric verification machines and other voting materials shall be deployed to the 26, 000 polling stations on Friday, emphasizing that, without verification, no one can vote.

Ghana is introducing for the first time the biometric voters' register in its elections.

Afari-Gyan said distribution of electoral materials would be done on Friday morning.

Conceding that vehicular breakdown and other technical hitches could cause a delay in voting, the chairman allayed such fears, saying extension was in-built into the regulations, which would allow those in queue before the mandatory closing time of 5.00 pm to vote.

He warned that agents of political parties and candidates should not be restricted at the polling stations, stressing that these agents should also not go breathing down the spines of voters.

"They must be close enough to hear what they must hear and see what they must see, so they are free to move about," said Afari- Gyan.

He advised the political parties to appoint knowledgeable people as their agents at the polling stations to be able to do a very good work for them.

The EC chairman said there was no need for muscular men to be deployed by the parties since the security services would be deployed to ensure security during the polls.

"We are determined to ensure, free, fair and transparent elections on Friday, but we need the media as our partners to help us in achieving this goal," he said.

Counting of ballots is done at the polling stations after the close of polls in front of all party agents and independent observers and the results declared there.

These ballots would then be signed by all party agents at the polling centers before the materials are returned to the constituency centers.

The results are then faxed to the Operations (Strong) Room of the EC, where all party representatives can cross-check all the figures with their agents in the constituencies before they append their signatures to them.

"I am the last person to see these results and certify them, so it would be crazy on my part to tinker with results many people have already seen and recorded," Afari-Gyan stressed, adding that it was difficult for any official of the EC to help any party rig elections.

Ghana goes to the polls each four years to elect their president and representatives in parliament, with the fourth republic chalking 20 years next Jan. 7. Endi

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