Ashanti records drop in contestants for this year

A total of 2,670 people filed their nominations to vie for the 840 assembly seats in the Ashanti Region in this year's district assembly elections.

Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Isaac Kofi Asomaning, who disclosed this, said the figure indicated a drop of 67 per cent, when compared to the 2,737 people, who contested for the elections four years ago.

Mr Asomaning was speaking at a day's seminar that was aimed at sensitizing media practitioners in the region on the district level elections in Kumasi.

The seminar, among others, was also aimed at seeking the collaboration of the media to whip up public interest ahead of the elections, which is scheduled for September 12.

Mr Asomaning attributed the reduction in contestants to what he said was the perceived poor remuneration for people, who got elected as assembly members, stressing that this resulted in the citizenry, especially the youth being apathetic towards presenting their candidature.

The EC Regional Director further indicated that 2,352 people out of the total contestants for the elections were males, whilst 318 were females.

On the unit committee elections, Mr Asomaning stated that a total of 16,427 people filed their nominations to contest for positions in the 2,747 electoral units in the region.

Director of Finance at the EC, Isaac Boateng reiterated that a total of about 147 billion cedis was voted by the Commission for the organization of this year's district level elections, adding that, the citizenry should therefore patronize the elections to enhance local governance at the grass-root level and also justify the expenditure.

He cautioned the media to be circumspect about their reportage to ensure successful elections.