The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council is calling on Ghanaians to avoid political conflicts during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

The council in a statement on Friday, encouraged Ghanaians to show “God’s greatest gift of love to humanity through the birth of Jesus Christ into his world.”

The Council also urged citizens to instill peace and reconciliation going into 2020, after what they describe as a “rancorous period of political disagreement and extreme partisanship.”

Ghana will be going to the polls next year to elect a president to manage the country’s affairs. Similar periods in the past have ushered in heightened tension coupled with pockets of violent incidents and clashes.

Against this backdrop, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council has called on political parties to institute measures to ensure the smooth running of the processes.

“We urge all Ghanaians and especially the political parties to exhibit the greatest sense of tolerance in our political discourse, eschewing extreme partisanship and seeking consensus building in all our engagements, with the ultimate aim of a peaceful united Ghana before, during and after the December 2020 General elections,” the council said.

It further stated that; “While the Electoral Commission to seek consensus building and transparency at all times in its deliberation with political parties and other stakeholders on all processes leading to the December 2020 elections, we also call on stakeholders, especially the political parties to be circumspect in the manner they critique the Electoral Commission in order not to compromise their impartial and constitutionally guaranteed independence.”