No reports on District Assembly election is Labone, Accra could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, unit committee and district level elections took place in June 1998 (DPA 23 June 1998a, ibid., 23 June 1998b; Country Reports 1998 1999, 220).

"There are 110 district assemblies while the unit committees cover small areas and help the assemblies to govern the areas or villages. Both elections are for four-year terms" (DPA 23 June 1998). DPA states that Kwadwo Afar-Gyan was the chairman of the Electoral Commission and David Kanga the deputy chairman (ibid.).

According to Country Reports 1998 "in 1998 in peaceful elections voters elected new district assembly representatives and, for the first time, unit committee members to complete the local government structure outlined in the Constitution" (1999, 220). However, DPA states that the election was beset with "general apathy. " Some polling stations did not receive voting materials and voting was postponed to a later date (23 June 1998). The two elections were reportedly contested by about 250,000 candidates, four per cent of whom were women. However, voting for committee members did not take place in 5,000 units as only 10 people or fewer filed their papers (ibid).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998. 1999. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. United States Government Printing Office.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 23 June 1998a. "Voting Starts in Ghana's Local Elections." (NEXIS)

_____. 23 June 1998b. "Voting Ends in Ghana's Local Elections." (NEXIS)

Africa Confidential [London].

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [Oxford].

IRB Databases. LEXIS/NEXIS.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge].

Resource Centre. Country File. Ghana.

Search engines including:

Google

Metacrawler

Mamma.

Internet sites including:

All Africa