Despite pre-election skirmishes that have occurred in some parts of the country, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), has predicted peaceful and credible elections on December 7. "I believe come December, we will have peaceful and credible election, and we will continue to build and deepen our democracy," he said, adding, "even though there may be obstacles on the way, I think we will overcome them", Speaking during a study tour of the EC's headquarters by the Upper East and Northern Regional Inter-Party Advisory Committees on Thursday, Dr Afari-Gyan admonished the political party representatives to eschew violence and embrace peace. "There is no need for any fighting," he said, apparently referring to the violence that erupted at Tamale and Gushiegu recently, adding, "Do what you can and leave the determination (outcome of the election) to the Ghanaian people." The last in a series of study tours organised by the commission, in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the KAB Governance Consult, is aimed at building the confidence of all the 10 Regional Inter Party Advisory Committees and also to ensure integrity of the electoral process. The study tours also afford the various representatives of the political parties in the regions to be briefed on the structure of the EC, work of the Elections Department, IT Department and the Operations Room and also to voice their concerns on some aspects of the electoral process. Obviously elated by the spirit of camaraderie exhibited by the political party representatives, the EC chairman stated: "You are cooperating' so well here, and when you go back to your constituencies, there is no need for you to start fighting". He expressed the hope that there would be appropriate consultations between the political parties and the security agencies to determine the kind of security that would be suitable for violent-free election. Touching on the Limited Voter Registration Exercise, he said those who had registered but who for one reason or the other could still not have their photographs taken, could do so at the district offices. He said 1.8 million newly registered people had been added to the register, bringing the total eligible voters to 13 million, a figure he described as too high considering Ghana's population of about 20 million. Afari-Gyan gave the assurance that there would be a procedure that the EC, in collaboration with stakeholders, would take to clean the voters' register during its exhibition from October 5-11. Kathryn Meissner, Resident Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said throughout the last two weeks that the tour had been held, it emerged that many of the worries that political parties had were based on a lack of trust and familiarity with the details of the electoral process. . She urged the party representatives to use the information and the learning experience that they had acquired to educate their members in the regions. Source: Ghanaian Times