By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila

ACCRA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Ghana's main opposition

National Democratic Congress (NDC) party on Tuesday held

nationwide protests against alleged voter roll irregularities,

demanding an independent forensic audit to rid the register of

errors for free and fair elections.

Voters in the West African gold- and cocoa-producing nation

will head to the polls on Dec. 7 to elect a successor to

President Nana Akufo-Addo, who will step down in January after

serving the constitutionally mandated eight years.

The election will pit ex-president John Dramani Mahama of

the NDC against current Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the

ruling New Patriotic Party.

The NDC party leaders said the electoral commission

illegally transferred voters to different voting stations

without their knowledge, compromising the integrity of the

register.

Clad in red and black, thousands of supporters marched

through principal streets in the capital Accra, blaring reggae

and campaign songs from loudspeakers and calling on

international bodies, Ghana's peace council and religious and

civil society groups to intervene.

Protest leaders presented petitions to parliament and the

electoral agency in Accra. Protests also took place across

Ghana's other 15 regions, according to local media.

Protester Kwame Acheampong, 68, told Reuters in the local

Akan language that his registration had been transferred from

the capital to the northern city of Tamale.

"How can I go to Tamale to vote?" he said.

The electoral commission has said identified errors have

been corrected.

In August, it suspended a district director in the

northeastern town of Pusiga for "using his credentials to

transfer voters without their knowledge."

Ghana is one of Africa's most stable democracies, but about

eight people died during the last election, which was also

marred by opposition accusations that the government unfairly

influenced the outcome, which it denied.

Allegations of irregularities dent the electoral authority's

image. A July survey by pan-African research group Afrobarometer

showed trust in Ghana's electoral commission at historic low

since confidence polls started in 1999.

NDC party chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia told protesters he

wanted "nothing but transparent elections."

"Ghana's democracy is on a serious test and we want (it) to

prevail. It's time for war to remove anything that has the

tendency to push us into a bigger war."