Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, 7th December 1996: STEP Project Election Briefing Papers

Scope of Work:

This paper provides a very brief overview of the run-up to the elections in Ghana on 7 December 1996. You have already heard ad nausem about the how the voter registration system was put in place, the exhibition of the voters register and the voter education programme. That information will not be repeated here. This document is designed to provide you with background information about the political developments that have taken place over the last 12 months and the problems the Electoral Commission is likely to encounter in administering the election in the regions to which you are assigned, and outline your responsibilities while you are here.

At the end of this briefing paper are reports prepared by the regional directors outlining the problems of election administration in their respective regions. These were prepared for STEP project sponsored workshops on election administration that were held in the 10 regional capitals during the past year. The reports form the basis for tackling the problems of election administration in Ghana. Your responsibility is to evaluate the progress made in solving the problems outlined by the Regional Directors. Through interviews with your Regional Director, his staff, returning officers, district electoral officers, polling station officials, political party representatives and your own observation of the organization and execution of the election operational plan you should be able to make a determination as to whether the Commission has been successful at solving the problems in an orderly and systematic way or is it still at sixes and sevens throwing things together at the last minute. Many of the problems outlined in the reports are not solvable by the Commission in the short term. These include stipends, impresses, and motivations. They are financial in nature.     

Each of you have been assigned to a region. The appendix contains a good deal of information about the regions you have been assigned. These regions are among the most difficult for the Commission to administer. Their problems range from simple logistics problems to ethnic conflicts.