Greater Accra Needs More Constituencies - NPP

Some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Greater Accra region have called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to create more constituencies in the region.

At a press conference in Accra on Friday, Director of Communication of the Regional Branch of the NPP, Michael ‘Jagbele’ Ampong indicated that since it is currently on record that the Greater Accra region has a voter population of 3.9 million, there is the need for the region to have more of the proposed constituencies.

The Electoral Commission (EC) is mandated to create new constituencies every seven to 10 years. The EC has therefore decided to create at least 20 new constituencies for the upcoming 2012 general elections.

Mr. Ampong indicated that the regional executives of the NPP believe that to ensure free and fair elections and reduce the current pressure in the constituencies, the Greater Accra region should have at least 10 additional constituencies.

Mr. Ampong noted that per the provisional national census figures Greater Accra region has a voter population of 3.9 million, adding that the Greater Accra has an average voter population of over 2.5 million whilst the vote cast was about 1.7 million, according to EC’s figures for the 2008 elections.

“The average voter turn out was 62,497 as the total voter turn out is divided by the 27 constituencies of the region.”

Mr. Ampong noted that according to the 2008 voter figures, the national average voter turn out per constituency is 38,000 whilst the average voter turn out figures for the Greater Accra region alone exceed 38,000, stressing that the voter turn out figures of most constituencies fall below the national figure.

“We therefore called on the EC as well as key stakeholders to give a careful and deserving consideration to the Greater Accra region in the upcoming creation of the new constituencies.