SAEMA fails to elect presiding member

Sekondi, Dec. 21, GNA - The Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assemby, (SAEMA) on Tuesday failed to elect a presiding member after three rounds of voting at the first meeting of the third session of the Assembly held at Sekondi.

In the first round of voting, the incumbent presiding member, Mr Edwin Philips, a Mechanical Engineer, polled 47 votes out of the 79 votes cast while Dr Francis Sagoe, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, polled 31 votes. One vote was rejected.

Since none of the two contestants failed to obtain the stipulated two-thirds majority, the voting went into a second round and Mr Philips had 41 votes as against 38 votes polled by Dr. Sagoe.

At the end of a third voting, Mr. Philips still polled 41 votes while Dr. Sagoe maintained his 38 votes.

The Deputy Regional Electoral Officer, Mr Addae Darkwah who conducted the election postponed the election, following the stalemate and announced that another election would be organised within 10 days.