Tamale in particular and the Northern Region in general have passed the litmus test in this year's general elections. The overall atmosphere in the region was that of serenity in the midst of eagerness of the electorate to exercise their franchise on Sunday. Most residents have described the polls as arguably the best so far in the history of electioneering in the Tamale metropolis, where there was no incident of heated political arguments leading to disturbances at any of the polling stations. "The credit goes to the chiefs and people of this area. Indeed, we must commend ourselves for ensuring a peaceful election, which many people doubted we would ever achieve, considering how high the stakes were in this election," a resident, Iddrisu Musah, stated. He attributed this development to the various roles played by some chiefs, religious and opinion leaders in the area. Mr Musah also expressed appreciation to the security agencies, civil society organisations and all other stakeholders for their incessant prayers and appeals for peace in Tamale and the region in general. The Chief Imam of the Tamale Central Mosque, Alhaji Ahmed Abdul-Samed, has also expressed appreciation and entreated the people to accept the outcome of the polls in good faith, stressing that "it is only Allah who crowns kings; and whoever He chooses, let us support that person to help accelerate the development of the nation." The Northern Regional Police Commander, Ofosu-Mensah Gyeabour, also commended the people for their support and co-operation so far with the security services in the discharge of their duties during the elections. He acknowledged the immense contributions from other security agencies, the media and civil society organisations, who, he said, had helped to sustain peace in the area since the infractions between some supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Tamale and Gushiegu in early September, this year. The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, also commended the people for the display of maturity and show of camaraderie during the electioneering, especially in the last three months when the region did not record any political violence. He reminded the people that in everything they do, they should always remember that they are Ghanaians first and-that politics is only an exchange of ideas and opinions which should not incite anyone to violence. Alhaji Idris further urged the chiefs and people of Dagbon to ensure unity at all times and come together to forge ahead in harmony for the sake of accelerated development of Dagbon. In all, 141 parliamentary candidates filed their nominations to contest for seats in the 26 constituencies. Among the candidates are 13 females; who vied for seats in 10 out of the 26 constituencies at Bole-Bamboi, Nalerigu, Damongo-Daboya, Chereponi, Gushiegu, Savelugu, Tamale North, South, Central, as well as Walewale, sixteen others are standing as independent candidates. Parties that fielded parliamentary candidates were the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People's Party (CPP), the People's National Convention (PNC), the Democratic People's Party (DPP), the New Vision Party (NVP), and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP). Eight candidates, the highest ever, contested in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo and Savelugu constituencies while Yendi, Yapei-Kusawgu and Kpandai constituencies had seven aspirants each. In the 2004 elections, the NDC won 17 seats while the NPP won eight, with Mr Joseph Labik, an independent candidate, winning the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo Constituency. Source: Daily Graphic