Live Updates as Ghana goes to the polls
Jaman North: The Electoral Commission (EC) has ordered that voting in the Jaman North Constituency should be held today, after voting there was held up as a result of a disagreement between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the number of persons on the transferred voters list. After deliberations between the political parties, chiefs and other stakeholders, it was decided that voting should be postponed to tomorrow. Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah reports that the EC kicked against the decision of the stakeholders and ordered that voting should begin.
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According to the EC, the decision to postpone the election was contrary to provision 36(1) of the CI 94 which governs the conduct of the elections. When contacted the Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the EC, Mr George Gyabaah, explained to Graphic Online that the Deputy Regional Director, Mr Frank Nunoo, had been dispatched to the constituency to see to the successful conduct of the elections.
Ghana Police: The Ghana Police Service, as part of its efforts to police this year's general election, has set up an operations and communication hub at the Police Headquarters in Accra.
The hub comprises the various security agencies co-ordinating several security aspects of the elections. It also has a Social Media Unit which operates 24/7 to monitor the social media, engage the public online and respond to issues online when the need arises. You can follow the police social media outlet on @GhPoliceService (Facebook and Twitter) or whatsApp them on 0541613162.
Ivor Greenstreet: The Presidential candidate of the CPP, Mr Ivor Kwabena Greenstreet, has cast his ballot at the Ampomah Guest House Polling Station in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in Accra. He described the process as smooth, but declined to give a general impression of the election.
Calm at Nadowli-Kaleo: The Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency is a virtually dead environment as voters go to the polls to elect a President and a parliamentarian for the area. Very little activity is happening on the streets of the communities when the Graphic Online moved through the towns and villages to monitor the voting process. The quietness on the streets is reflected even at the polling stations where order among voters has been a common feature. With military and police presence is very evident, the readiness of the system to deal with miscreants would not be lost on potential deviants. But further significantly, the much-maligned biometric verification device has not posed any problems throughout the process.
Nsawam Prisoners vote: Voting is currently underway at the Nsawam Medium Prison Service where 366 registered voters are expected to cast their votes, at two polling stations within the confines of the prison. As of 1 p.m. a total of 247 persons, including 11 ex-convicts, had cast their ballots at both the female and male prisons, reports Emelia Ennin Abbey. While prison officers monitored the electoral process, the electoral officers carried out their duties, as the inmates took turns to be verified to vote. Their voter identification cards were in the custody of the prison wardens. The Commander of the Nsawam Prison, Deputy Director of Prisons, Mr Isaac Kofi Egyir, told Graphic Online that there had not been any challenges and the exercise was expected to proceed smoothly throughout the voting period.
EC's poling station staff skeptical: EC officials at the Harvest Time Int. School Polling Station in the Adentan Constituency fear some electorates on the register cannot exercise their franchise because as of 2:30 p.m only 732 out of the 1,442 eligible voters had voted. The officials, who were virtually on a holiday when the Graphic Online visited the venue, said they experienced long queues in the morning but that reduced around 12 pm. "We are waiting and hoping that those who have gone to work will close early and come to vote because as you can see it takes a long time before one person will appear to vote", the Presiding Officer at Centre B, Mr John Paul, said.
The Harvest Time International School Polling Stations (A and B) have 29 transfers but no proxy.
The situation was not different at the Ayirebi Presby Church A & B Polling Stations in the Eastern Region.
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Bizzare: At the EP Primary School at Atito in the Anlo Constituency an elderly women openly voted for two parliamentary candidates. According to Madam Abla Fiawor, the two candidates came to her with some freebies for her to vote for them. In order to keep to her word, she decided to share the vote between them. She wanted to keep evidence, hence calling on the presiding officer to witness it. When she was told it will be rejected, she said "I only wanted to keep my word."
Cape Coast North: In parts of the Cape Coast North Constituency, the number of people turning out to vote has increased dramatically as the elections near finish line at 5 p.m. Like the typical Ghanaian last minute behaviour, many people rushed to the polling stations in the constituency as polls neared a close. At the Amamoma Methodist A, B, C polling stations, there are 2,525 registered voters, but only 1,322 people had cast their votes as of 4:50 p.m. There is, however, long and winding queue with people eager to exercise their franchise.
Queues wind down in Adentan Constituency: With barely an hour to close the polls, most voting centres and stations within the Adentan Constituency which began with long winding queues in the morning, have been left idle with electoral officers now waiting for those yet to cast their votes to do so. There was no activity at the St Cecilia School station, the Sunbeam School, Vineyard Church, Victory Presby School as well as the Adenta Municipal Assembly stations. The centres were all very calm with voters coming in every now and then, to cast their votes. All the Presiding Officers interviewed expressed satisfaction about the smooth conduct which they attributed to the effectiveness and efficiency of the biometric verification system. "I think on the whole, the process has been peaceful and incident free, though initially there were concerns about voters having difficulty in easily locating their polling centres as the stations with high voter lists had been further broken down."
Adentan Constituency Collation Centre gears up for results: Light Academy, the hub where votes for the Adentan Constituency will be confirmed and collated, is ready for action. A visit to the centre saw Electoral Commission (EC) officials setting up the place, although they did not allow for photographs. An official told Graphic Online that given the incident free process the election had recorded in the Constituency, the EC was not anticipating any delay in votes counting and thus will collate the results and declare it as soon as that exercise was completed. "During the last polls, the Adentan Constituency was among the late centres that declared the results a day after the voting dayin the 2012 general elections because there were late voting in a number of centres. "This time round, there hasn't been any hold-ups so we don't anticipate any delays, so we will be on schedule," the officers told the Graphic Online.