District Level Elections: We’re excited about the smooth process - EC

Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Corporate Services, Tuesday said the Commission is pleased about the peaceful conduct of the just-ended polls for District Level Elections.

It did not witness any electoral breaches and violence.

The EC, he said, was awaiting the figures from the field to collate and assess the turnout.

Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA), about the Commission’s preliminary assessment of the election, Dr. Bossman Asare stated: “We’re excited about the smooth nature of the process”.

Asked about the obvious low turnout, he said, it was a major issue that required national attention and therefore, the Commission would share its report with the relevant stakeholders for the requisite action to be taken.

“Together with our stakeholders, we did intensive education for about six weeks before the elections. However, you can give the education but people may still be adamant.”

In 1988/89, the National Average Voter Turnout at the District Level Elections was – 59.3%;

in 1994, it was 29.3%; 1998 - 41.6%; 2002 – 33.1%; 2006 – 39.3%; 2010 – 35.5% and 2015 – 30.6%.

In another interview, the Director-General of Public Affairs of Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) David Eklu, told the GNA that the security situation was calm and devoid of electoral laws breaches.

The few significant issues that came from the Ekumfi Imuna in the Mankessim District of the Central Region and the Aowin Municipality in the Western North Regions were handled expertly by the security agencies.

Some residents of these areas threatened to prevent the elections from being held in their areas over their reported deplorable roads.

At Ekumfi Imuna, some of them burnt car tyres and firewood in the middle of the road amidst curses and the branding of a machete to demonstrate the seriousness of their threat.

The polls were thus suspended in those areas.

ACP Eklu said minor infractions, such as petty quarrels and misunderstanding that occurred at few polling stations were dealt with by the security officers.

The District Level Elections officially closed at 1700 hours at almost all the polling stations across the country, with counting underway.

About 57,000 candidates contested the nationwide assembly and unit committee elections, held every four years to strengthen democratic governance at the local level.

Of the figure, 18,510 put themselves up to become assembly members, while 38,520 want to be in the Unit Committees.

The contestants of the District Assembly Elections comprise 17, 601 males and 909 females.

At the Unit Committee level, 3,751 females are racing with 34,769 males.

There are a total of 6,272 electoral areas and each electoral area would be represented by one assembly member.

For the Unit Committees, there will be five for every electoral area.

The midday report of the Coalition of Domestic Observers, which deployed 1,100 observers, has been generally positive.