Election drama

My last post about the election painted a tense but probably peaceful picture. In this post I would like to emphsize the tension.

Both parties have protested, and the leaders on both sides have told the election commission that there has been ffraud in different areas. The NPP has filed an injunction with the court saying that the EC should not announce a winner tomorrow, instead there should be a re-vote in yet another area.

We bought a paper today and some of the articles were somewhat bleak. The parties have begun to divide into ethnic groups, with the NPP perceived as the Ashanti paty and the NDC as everyone else. Radio personalities are inciting violence and although protests have not turned into riots rocks have been thrown and people have shown up with machetes.

The tension is higher than I thought and the streets are far emptier than usual... but on the other hand the leaders of the parties are urgin people to remain calm and to wait for results. Violence has been minimal and is restricted to the fringes of the parties and, so far, people are simply waiting.

Ingrid and I may just go back to the beach to wait it all out.