842 to contest District Assembly seats in Greater Accra

A total of 842 candidates have filed nominations to contest 236 seats in the ten electoral districts of the Greater Accra Region for the 30 July district assembly elections. Statistics from the regional office of the Electoral Commission available to the Ghana News Agency indicate that only 64 of the candidates are women. Contestants in 10 electoral areas were declared unopposed.

Ms Laurentia Kpatakpa, EC Deputy Regional Director in an interview with the GNA in Accra on Thursday said the local government elections had attracted people across professions. She said members of some professional bodies, which did not want to be associated with the district assembly system, were now coming forward to contest even at the unit committee levels.

Ms Kpatakpa said the regional analysis of the professional qualifications of candidates, shows that they spread from holders of Basic Education Certificate through Diploma to Degree holders.

The figures show that the Tema District recorded the highest number of female contestants of 17, Ashiedu Keteke had no female candidate while Osu Clottey recorded one.The rest are Ga, eight; Okaikwei, three; Ablekuma, six; Ayawaso, two; Kpeshie, nine; Dangbme West, 10 and Dangbme East, nine.