Managing Election- Relation Violence for Democratic Stability in Ghana supporters of rival parties; burning and looting of property; seizure of ballot boxes by'macho men' and unemployed youth; and direct clashes between opposing local party supporters (Jockers et al., 2009; IRIN, 2008). Although these and other forms of violence have to some extent characterized all elections held in Ghana, at least under the Fourth Republic, this discussion focuses mainly on acts of violence that took place just before, during and immediately after the 2008 elections(Ablordeppey, 2008; The Statesman, 2008). Violence during the 2008 elections began during the registration of voters, the first major exercise ahead of the elections. A simple and practical exercise that should normally pose no problem was characterized by acts of vandalism and attacks on party agents, journalists and ordinary civilians along with clashes between supporters of the NDC and NPP mostly in the Northern, Volta and Ashanti regions(Alhassan, 2008; Asmah, 2008). As Gyampo (2008) observes'[There] were reported cases of minors being sent by political party officials in buses to register, acts of intimidation, gunshots, people taking the laws into their own hands and preventing people suspected to be political opponents from registering, and so on'. In the Northern Region, in particular, there were instances of sporadic gunshots as supporters of the NPP and NDC vandalised registration centres in protest over the integrity of the registration exercise(Alhassan, 2008). As voting day drew closer, so did violence escalate with attacks and reprisal attacks mostly by NPP and NDC supporters, often involving unemployed youth and'macho men'(ibid.). In some cases, particularly in northern Ghana, 46