GhanaElection 2008 Registration Problems Aside the large numbers of voters who turned out to register(albeit believed to be mainly multiple registrants), the Workstations Technology employed by the Commission contributed to the difficulties encountered by the registration officials, who had hardly mastered the use of the registration equipment ahead of the commencement of the exercise. Also, only 2,500 pieces of the workstations were procured, thereby resulting in the pairing of registration centres. This development led to voters having to walk long distances to have their names registered. Additionally, the concurrency of the voter's registration with the issuance of National Identification Cards in certain parts of the country resulted in an initial confusion of the electorate as to differentiating between the separate needs of either exercise. Analysis of Registration Figures Notwithstanding these problems encountered during the registration review exercise, turnout far exceeded the Commissions expectations by well over eight hundred thousand new voters(see table 3.1). This represents 83.5%. Regionally, the increases of the 2008 review over the 2006 total figures ranged between 15.3% to 18.7% while the national average stood at 16.7%. The Upper West region registered the least percentage increase while Ashanti recorded the highest. Again the 2008 registration grew by 290.4% over that of the 2006 limited exercise. This phenomenal growth can only be explained by the huge interest the last general elections generated among the electorate in comparison to the 2006 district/local level elections. Age/Gender Distribution of Newly Registered Voters Persons aged 20 years and above, who should have ordinarily registered by the 2006 limited registration, formed the majority(46.9%) of the newly registered voters captured during the 2008 exercise, lending credence to the suspicion that political parties(eager to win/retain power) aided and abated a massive multiple registration scheme. This group of voters is generally more politically active than their comparatively younger compatriots of the 18 and 19 year groups. 27