Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral
Commission (EC), has underlined the need for continuous and sustained public education on the impending district level elections to whip up the
enthusiasm of people.
He said this was important because it would help to deepen grassroots democracy, which in the long run would improve the national election.
Dr Afari-Gyan was speaking on changes to the legal framework for district assembly and unit committee elections at a day's regional workshop for district officers of the EC, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department (ISD) in Kumasi.
"Harnessing resources of EC, NCCE and ISD for improved citizen participation in the 2010 District Level Election (DLE) in Ashanti region"
was the theme. It provided the platform to discuss ways to make the poll successful.
Organized jointly by the EC and KAB Governance Consult, the workshop brought together more than 100 participants.
They shared views on strategies for information dissemination, mode of collaboration, mounting of platforms for candidates, re-alignment of the electoral and unit committees, printing of ballot papers and information dissemination.
Dr Afari-Gyan expressed concern about the involvement of political parties in the district assembly elections, which he said, offended the electoral law.
He said there would be basically two ways of platform mounting, either an individual candidate doing it or by an organization other than a
political party that has been granted the permission by the EC.