Voting begins in District Level Elections in Central, Upper West

Accra, Dec. 28, GNA - Voting began officially on Tuesday, in the District Level elections in the Central and Upper West Regions, the first group of regions to vote in the polls, which will put in place, the political administration, at the grassroots level.

Voting began at 0700 and will end at 1700 hours.

The elections will be conducted in all 10 regions over the next three days, following the rescheduling of the vote in the other eight regions, because of the late printing of ballot papers. According to the rescheduled timetable released by the Electoral Commission (EC), the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Volta, Northern, Brong Ahafo and Upper East regions would vote on Wednesday, December 29, 2010, while th= e Eastern and Western Regions would hold the elections on Thursday, December 30. A statement signed by K. Sarfo Kantanka, Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations at the EC, on Monday said: "This arrangement has become necessar= y in view of the fact that printing of ballot papers for some regions could not be completed on time."

In the Upper West Region, 669 Candidates made up of 621 males and 48 females are contesting the District Level elections whi1e a total of 1,889 candidates made up of 1, 662 males and 227 females are contesting the Unit Level elections. In the Central Region, a total of 1,664 candidates made up of 1,544 malesand120 female are contesting the District Assembly Elections while 4,403 candidates made up of 3,846 males and 557 females are contesting the Unit Committee elections. The elections are being held on a non-partisan basis, as specified in the 1992 Constitution. The EC has, meanwhile spelt-out voting, electoral rules and regulation= s for the December 28 District and Unit Committee Elections. The directives, which was copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, indicate that, before the start of the polls at 0700 hours, the Presiding Officer is to bring together Polling Assistants, a Security Officer and any available Polling Agents and open each of the ballot boxes in their presenc= e and take out the election materials to ascertain that all items are available.

"The Presiding Officers must post the voting steps, notice of poll and how to mark the ballot posters at the head of the queue, ensure that each candidate is represented by only one polling or counting agent at a time, a= t the polling station. "Start work on time even if some or all the Polling Agents are late or not present; do not allow a Polling or Counting Agent to handle any of the election materials or meddle in the conduct of the election," the EC said. The EC directives also mandate a Presiding Officer to give permission for a voter, who is blind or physically challenged to be assisted at the voting premises, to exercise his or her franchise. On maintenance of law and order, the EC named the Presiding Officers a= s persons responsible for the orderly conduct of the poll at the polling stations.

"Presiding Officers are empowered by law to instruct a security office= r to remove from the polling station any person, including a Polling Agent, whose behaviour disturbs the voting process. "Cause the arrest of any person charged with impersonation, violence, voting more than once or concealing a ballot paper on his or her body at th= e polling station. "And cause the arrest of any person campaigning within 100 meters of the polling station." On the closure of polls, EC instructs that at 1700 hours, the polls must be closed and the security officer instructed to stand at the end of the queue and ensure that no one joins it.

"All persons in the queue at the close of polls are, however, to be allowed to vote."

The EC directs that the Unit Committee votes be counted first in the full view of the Counting Agents, sum up the total number of votes cast for each candidate in all the polling stations in the Unit. The five Candidates with the highest number of votes are declared the elected members of the Unit Committee and a copy of the declaration of results form is to be posted at a conspicuous place, at the Unit Centre. The procedure for the District Assembly Election is that, the Deputy Returning Officer will sum up the total number of votes cast for each candidate at all the polling stations throughout the Electoral Area. "At the end of the collation, the candidate with the highest number of votes is declared the winner for the Electoral Area. A copy of the declaration of results form is to be posted in a conspicuous place at the Electoral Area Centre," the EC said.