Chapter 2 ethnic bloc voting particularly in the Volta and Ashanti regions remains a major challenge(Jockers et al., 2009). The tendency on the part of politicians to manipulate and to feed on ethnic sentiments during elections has not only been in evidence during election periods, it is indeed assuming disturbing dimensions in recent times. The recent statement made by Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin North, inciting NPP supporters against Ga and Ewe people is a case in point(The Enquirer, 2012). Earlier in 2008, while on the campaign trail, NDC presidential candidate Atta Mills had told his fellow Fante people that it was more advantageous to vote for him, a son of the soil, than to vote for a'stranger'. The infamous'adze wo fie a oye' statement by Mr. Atta Mills himself – literally,'there is something good at home' – along with several other statements by members of both leading parties only go to confir 1 m the pervasiveness of ethnicity in the Ghanaian body politic. As Aning aptly observes,'the ethnic card is a key issue in generating political violence but politicians have been exploiting the card by using ethnicity and religion to manipulate the electorate and inciting the youth to engage in violent acts'(Aning, quoted in The Accra Daily Mail, 20 November, 2008). There are numerous recent African cases, such as the post-elections crises in Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire, where ethnic politics, often pursued through clientelistic networks, have threatened the very survival of the state. The dualism created by the persistence of neo-patrimonial frameworks and modern institutions means that formal institutional arrangements, though conspicuously present, are often apt to prove frail structures, particularly when it comes to the enforcement of the rules governing electoral competition. 43