Voting peaceful and orderly in Kumasi

Voting for the presidential and parliamentary elections began peacefully and orderly in most polling stations in Kumasi and other constituencies in Ashanti region. Some voters, were at the polling stations as early as 3 a.m., long before voting materials arrived.

At the Mother Smith school polling station at Kyirapatre Estate, in Kumasi, voting began slightly behind schedule and Mr Stephen Addo, the presiding officer, attributed this to late arrival of voting materials and difficulty by election officials to check records.

Nana Owusu Anno Panin III, Kyirapatrehene, who was among the early voters, expressed satisfaction about the orderly and peaceful manner in which the voting was conducted.

Mr. Patrick Botchwey, presiding officer at the Kumasi South Polyclinic, said voting began on time, peacefully and orderly.

Miss Rose Agyeiwaa Asare, polling agent at Atonsu cluster of schools said voting began on time and was also peaceful and orderly.

At the Adum Presby JSS polling station, in the Subin constituency, some voters complained about the slow pace of voting.

Long queues were formed and security personnel had a hectic time controlling voters. No incident had been recorded so far.

At the SUAME L/A School, voting began at 7 a. m., after long queues had been formed and voters were at the neck of polling officers to speed up sorting out of names.

At the more than 10 polling stations visited by the GNA, in the Old Tafo/Suame constituency, voting was peaceful and orderly without any irregularities.

At Mamponteng L/A primary two in the Kwabre constituency, Mr Eric Apraku Antwi, the presiding officer, said materials submitted to them were adequate and voting was going on smoothly.

At the Mamponteng L/A primary school "A", Miss Mary Birasor, the presiding officer, said new registered voters could not find their names in the voters' register and there was confusion as they had to move from one polling station to the other to check for the names.

Mr Busybee Asante, Electoral Officer for Kwabre said there was no incident even though there were no security personnel to maintain peace and order.

The early hours of voting in the Ejisu-Juaben constituency were marked by a massive voter turnout at most polling stations.

Long queues were formed long before voting got underway.

The atmosphere at all the polling centres looked generally calm and orderly as voters patiently waited for their turn to cast their ballot.

Mr Kwadwo Twum-Antwi, the District Returning Officer told the Ghana News Agency that "we do not anticipate any hitches".

He, however, said some voters who transferred their votes to the area but could not locate their names at the new centres where they are supposed to vote, have been streaming into the District Electoral Office with complaints

Mr. Twum-Antwi said every effort was being made to trace their names in the "change of polling station register" to help resolve the problem.

At Tepa in the Ahafo-Ano North district, the district assembly in collaboration with the Electoral Commission has erected a giant scoreboard for recording the results from the 85 polling stations in the constituency. Voting at most of the polling stations began on time, peaceful and orderly without any problem.

In the Kumawu constituency, there were no enumeration forms at the Nkwadum and Woraso L/A primary polling stations.

At Bodomase L/A JSS and primary schools, voter turnout was encouraging and voting proceeded orderly.