Former New Patriotic Party Chairman, Peter Mac Manu, will join the Election Observer Mission of International Democratic Union (IDU) to witness Sunday’s general elections in Germany.
Mr. Mac Manu who is currently the Honorary Chairman of the Democratic Union of Africa (DUA), last month led DUA, an affiliate of the International Democratic Union (IDU) to the Kenyan elections but was denied entry into that country upon arrival at the Nairobi Airport.
A statement signed by Secretary General of DUA, Charles Owiredu said: Mr. Peter Mac Manu will observe some of the rallies and also have firsthand experience on how the Germans’ conduct their political rallies in recent times.”
“Further, Mr. Mac Manu would have the opportunity to tour some polling stations across some of the 299 voting districts to observe voting conduct in Munich voting district.
“It is our hope that lessons learnt from the observation will help shape and increase our understanding of campaigning, electoral processes and benefit Ghana’s electoral reforms,” the statement added.
Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel is seeking re-election for the 4th time leading the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the CSU in a coalition with Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as her main opponent. Other parties include the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the left’s Alternative for
German (AfD) which is led by Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch.
The elections are taking place in all the 299 voting districts across the country. The German’s electoral architecture is transparent and analog – voters are only allowed to vote with pen and paper and not with digital voting machines. All counting takes place by hand in the 70,000 or so voting locations and counting is open to the public.
Final results of the German elections are expected to be announced by midnight of Sunday, 24th September 2017. The party or the coalition bloc that win the most seats in the Bundestag will have the mandate to form government.