Polls off ! : In All But 2 Regions
Today's highly anticipated district level elections across the country have been rescheduled in all but two regions, a senior official of the Electoral Commission (EC) has confirmed.
Consequently, the polls will be held in only the Central and Upper West regions.
According to the acting Director of Public Relations of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu–Parry, the hiccup had occurred because of the inability of the printing houses to print the ballot papers for the conduct of the elections.
He said the elections would be held in the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Volta and Upper East regions on Wednesday, December 29, 2010, while the Eastern and Western regions would have their turn on Thursday, December 30, 2010.
In the case of the Greater Accra Region, the elections will not take place in four disputed areas in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Sub-metro on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 following a Supreme Court ruling.
The four areas are the Okpoi Gonno Industrial Area, Tebibiiano, Nii Ashitey Akomfra North and Martey Tsuru Electoral areas, all in the Ledzokuku Constituency.
The EC will also not conduct elections in the Lower Manya Krobo District, as it could not process nomination forms following the closure of its office there by some irate youth of the area.
Voting will also not take place in the Atosale Azaasi Electoral Area in the Kasena Nankana East District of the Upper East Region because of a dispute over the naming of the electoral area.
The district level elections were originally scheduled to be held in all the 170 districts and 6,150 units and electoral areas across the country today.
A total of 17,315 candidates, comprising 15,939 males (92.05 per cent) and 1,376 females (7.95 per cent) are contesting to become district assembly members.
Also, 45,762 candidates, made up of 41,110 males (89.83 per cent) and 4,652 females (10.17 per cent), are vying for unit committee membership.
Each polling station is entitled to two ballot boxes, one for the assembly election and the other for the unit committee election.
Other materials despatched are transferred voters' lists (where applicable), lists of proxy voters, absentee voters' lists, name reference lists, objected names lists and enumeration sheets for male and female voters.
There are five other forms at the polling stations, namely, the statements of the poll, declaration of results forms, two handing-over certificates, forms of arrest and search of suspects.
Voting is expected to begin at 7 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. in all the polling stations.
According to the Director of Elections at the EC, Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, every voter in the queues at the polling stations at the close of polling at 5 p.m. would be allowed to vote, while the counting of ballots cast would start immediately after the last voter had cast his or her ballot.
He said agents of the various candidates would be allowed at the polling stations to observe proceedings.
More than 35,000 policemen have been deployed by the Police Administration to provide security during the elections, which begin today.
District assemblies form a critical part of Ghana’s decentralisation process. The first of the non-partisan elections took place on December 6, 1988.
From Kumasi, George Ernest Asare reports that out of 3,393 candidates contesting the district level elections in the Ashanti Region, only 240 are females.
The number of candidates contesting the elections in the Kumasi metropolis is 413, with only 38 females taking part.
The Deputy Ashanti Regional Electoral Officer, Mr Lawrence Sarpong, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the statistics for the region in general and Kumasi in particular, pointed out that the 3,393 candidates were contesting in 1,058 electoral areas in the region.
He said in the Kumasi metropolis, the 413 candidates were contesting in 102 electoral areas.
On the unit committee elections, Mr Sarpong said as many as 9,473 candidates were contesting to represent their communities, explaining that out of that number, only 1,042 were females.
Vincent Amenuveve reports from Tamale that the Northern Regional Director of the EC, Mr Sylvester Kanyi, told the Daily Graphic that a major challenge was how to facilitate voting in the Lamashegu and the Lama Kara Electoral areas, both suburbs of Tamale.
He said the issue had to do with the fact that Lama Kara had been part of the Zogbeli Electoral Area during the previous elections but was later removed from that electoral area.
According to the director, some of the candidates expressed concern that the changes might affect their votes, as some of the electorate in Lama Kara might still find it more convenient to vote in the Lamashegu North and the Zogbeli Electoral areas.
The director indicated that arrangements had been made to ensure that there was adequate provision of security and materials to ensure that the electorate in communities that were difficult to reach were made to vote without any problems.
Mr Kanyi further explained that there were 705 electoral areas for the district assembly elections in the region, with 1,672 males contesting, as against 145 females.
He further stated that for the unit committee elections, there were 705 electoral areas, with 3,743 males contesting, as against 232 females.