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The population size of Ghana which is the total number of people living in the country is estimated at 21.8 million. The population density which is also the number of people who live on a square kilometer of land is estimated as 91.39 per sq km. (UN estimate 2005). Accra, the capital, has the highest population of 2.2 million (World Bank estimate 2002). The population of theThe is provided by UK Assignment http://www.szdhsjt.com Brong Ahafo region from the 2000 census is 1,815,405, accounting for 9.6 percent of the country’s total population. The size of a district is measured by the total number of people who are residing in it. District Assemblies in Ghana are either Metropolitan (population over 250,000), Municipal (one town Assemblies with population over 95,000) or District (population 75,000). The Metropolitan Assemblies have the greater share of the population follow by the Municipal Assemblies before the District Assemblies. Blais & Dobrzynska (1998:244) find voter turnout to be higher in smaller countries, because these smaller countries tend to stimulate a greater sense of community which in itself boost a higher turnout. In smaller communities people are closer to each other and are aware of what is happening in the locality and also feel part of the community. This assertion is corroborated by Baldersheim, Jamil and Aminuzzaman (2001:60) who also find turnout to be higher in smaller communities due to the fact that those communities tend to be more homogeneous. On the basis of that a high proportion of the population conforms to common set of rules, and for that matter may enhance community identity, imbue the sense of ‘we-feeling’ and so arouse interest in the fate of the community. This may further lead to interest in community politics and therefore increase voter turnout. They consider it to be easier to maintain personal contact between the electorate and the candidates in smaller units. They see personal knowledge of the candidate as a vital factor that may increase voting, especially in communities with high illiteracy rates and inadequate access to the electronic media. Hypothesis 4: The smaller the size of a district, the higher the turnout. (F) The electoral competition within the districts. Concerning the electoral competition within the districts, it refers to the total number of people who contested in each district in relation to the total number of seats they were vying for. Turnout is likely to be high if there are more parties contesting the election for the simple reasons that; (1) the voters would be given wide options to make a choice since at least they would get a party that may somewhat meet their interests and (2) the large number of parties would also boost electoral mobilization. Blais & Carty (1990) and Blais & Dobrzynska (1998) cited in Blais (2006:118) report that, turnout is low in elections that produce single-party majority government. Blais and Dobrzynska (1998:248-249) however, identify another scenario that if there are more parties it makes the elections more complex and therefore more difficult for the voters to make up their minds concerning the party to vote for since they know that it is difficult for one party to win the majority. They feel the number of parties should be 2 or 3 so that the electorate can feel that his or her vote can elect a party who forms the next government. |