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01.09.2015 Politics

Voting in Assembly elections commences slowly in Tamale

01.09.2015 LISTEN
By GNA

Tamale, Sept. 1, GNA - Voting in the District Assembly elections is picking up slowly in some polling stations in the Tamale Metropolis.

At the Queen Elizabeth polling station 'A', turnout was very low as at 7:30 GMT when the GNA visited with only five people out of the 548 voters casting their ballot.

Mr Lawani George, the Presiding Officer for the polling station attributed the poor turnout to bad weather and the failure of the polling agents to arrive on time.

At Queen Elizabeth polling station 'B', the Presiding Officer Madam Zu Noala, raised similar concerns though she indicated that all the electoral materials including the biometric machines were functioning.

Mr Yahaya Seidu Iddrisu, the Presiding Officer at Tishiegu Anglican Primary polling station, also complained of some voters' names missing on the voters' register and had to turn them away.

He said voting started at about 8:00 GMT. At the Inter Royals polling station at Kalpohini, Mr Pangbot Timothy, the Presiding Officer attributed the late start of voting to the late arrival of the security personnel detailed for the polling station.

In a related development, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ebenezer Tetteh, Northern Regional Public Relations Officer told the GNA that security is tight for the elections explaining that 2,386 security personnel had been deployed to man the polling stations.

He said some security personnel had also been stationed at the Police Regional Headquarters to deal with any eventualities noting that some of the 2,286 polling stations across the region had two security personnel to strategically avoid any security breaches.

GNA

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