President Mahama going through the voting process to cast his ballot.

Low patronage, violence mark elections for assembly members, unit committees

Graphic Reporters Politics Sep - 02 - 2015 , 08:51

The district-level elections which took place across the country Tuesday registered a low turnout consistent with trends over the years.

Even after the voting had ended and the results had been declared, the usual euphoria that characterised the counting of votes in district assembly elections was absent in virtually all the polling stations visited by the Daily Graphic in Accra.

Only a few people were seen witnessing the counting of the ballots at the various polling stations in the Nima West, Asylum Down and Adabraka Official Town electoral areas.

Unlike the presidential and parliamentary elections which recorded 80.1 per cent turnout in 2008, the district level election in 2010 had a turnout of 35.27 per cent, while the turnout in 1998 was 41.6 per cent.

According to the EC the highest turnout in the district-level elections was 59 per cent in 1988 when the elections were conducted under Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime in 1988.

In Tuesday’s election, apart from the general apathy that characterised them, there were some isolated incidents of violence which were ultimately handled by security officials stationed at those locations, report Victor Kwawukume & Musah Jafaru.

Electoral areas and polling stations across the country registered a general low turnout accompanied by what was observed by reporters of the Daily Graphic as a seeming show of disdain for the district-level elections.

The kind of fever that accompany presidential and parliamentary elections was absent. Those who patronised the polling stations were mainly persons who were self-employed or unemployed, but for the majority of corporate workers who had to travel some distance to work, the exercise was of little significance to them.

The level of apathy that has accompanied the district-level elections has traditionally been strongest in Accra, the national capital and diffuses to the various regions.
Comparatively, the regions had fared better than the national capital and that scenario has replayed itself in this year’s elections.

Isolated incidents

At the Bimbisec polling centre in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region, a polling agent was slapped by a voter when he tried to stop him from voting twice.

There was near chaos at the Kansaworado polling area in Sekondi-Takoradi where a group of angry residents went berserk because the aspirant they favoured had been disqualified for no apparent reason.

The angry residents harassed voters who had turned up to cast their vote and burned car tyres, to prevent the exercise from going on if their favourite had been disqualified.

It took a police team from the Rapid Deployment Force to maintain calm in the area.

The suspension of voting at the Kenyasi West electoral area led to a near chaotic scene as the decision took voters unaware.

The names of over a dozen Unit Committee candidates did not appear on the ballot papers leading to protestations and eventual postponement.

Confusion broke out moments before the voting started after candidates had transported their supporters from far and near to cast their ballots only for them to be told by electoral officials that it had been rescheduled to today.

Voting in Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region had to be postponed due to rainfall that disturbed polling activities that were taking place in mainly open spaces without any protective shades.

Vice-President’s advice

Sebastian Syme reports that Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur cast his vote at the Accra High School polling station with a call on Ghanaians to accord such elections patronage.

Mr Amissah-Arthur arrived at the polling station around 10:45 am and smoothly went through the process.

As of the time he got to the polling station, only eight out of 460 registered voters had cast their ballot.

Speaking to journalists after voting, Mr Amissah-Arthur said the district assembly elections was the most important election at the community level since the contestants had a better appreciation of the needs of the community.

“That way the elected members can also push parliament in terms of facilities needed at the community level which is quite important, hence the need for people to come out and vote,” he stated.

Reports

In Accra, Edmund Smith-Asante reports that visits by the Daily Graphic to most polling stations witnessed the election officials sitting behind tables with the election materials, chatting or feeling bored as there was no one to attend to or few walked in during the period although they were propped up for action judging from the logistics made available.

Some were fortunate to have patrons trickle in but at very wide intervals which saw people come individually and not in groups.

At the Adentan Municipal Assembly, there was a low turnout of voters as polling officials, security personnel and election observers idled around, reports Maxwell Ocloo.

Severious Kale-Dery reports that the Adentan Community School voting centre, which has been rezoned into five polling stations registered had very low turnout. Only 20 people voted at one of the polling stations as at 11.30 a.m.

Voting at the J.T. Cluster of Schools polling station in the Adwenbu Electoral Area at Mataheko delayed for 40 minutes owing to the inability of the presiding officer to report thereby necessitating a replacement which took some time.

The replacement, Ms Grace Asare told the Daily Graphic that as at 12:45 pm 43 out of 740 registered voters had cast their vote.

At the Early Gospel Ministry polling station at Ablekuma North, staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) and other affiliated persons in the elections were left at the mercy of the weather seated under the hot sun squinting ,while speaking to the Daily Graphic.

As at 12:10 pm, only 10 persons out of a total of 356 registered voters had cast their votes according to Ms Patience Mettle, the presiding officer.

At the Pentecost Church at Tweneboah A in South Odorkor, 13 out of 736 voters had cast their votes as at 12: 20 pm, the officer, Mr Seth Kofi Ogbey said.

The B side of the same polling station had registered 19 votes compared to the total voter population of 699 at about the same time.

From the regions

The story of low turnout was not different from the situation in the regions.

Daniel Kenu reports that the rescheduling of seven polling stations at Kenyasi West in the Kwabre East of the Ashanti Region overshadowed generally low turnouts, especially, in parts of Kumasi.

Confusion broke out moments before the voting started after candidates had transported their supporters from far and near to cast their ballots only for them to be told by the EC officials that the voting had been rescheduled for today.

Apparently, some of the names of the unit committee candidates did not appear on the ballot papers, leading to protestations and eventual cancellation.

The angry youth, some of whose preferred candidates were on the ballot papers insisted that the voting should go ahead while the others resisted.

It took the intervention of police team from Mamponteng to prevent what would have been a bloody scene.

In the Wa municipality, Michael Quaye reports that a mix of both high and low turnouts characterised the voting process at different polling stations

But the numbers apart, the process remained peaceful all morning into afternoon as voters turned up to elect their assembly members for a four-year term.

At the Central Prisons polling station in the Kabanye Electoral Area, just 12 persons out of 261 eligible voters had cast their votes by 11:08a.m., while 46 out of over 250 registered voters had voted at the nearby Circuit Court polling station in the Degu Electoral Area by 11:15a.m.

Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah reports from Sekondi in the Western Region that voting did not take place at the West Tanokrom Electoral Area, following a Sekondi High Court injunction sought by one of the contestants, Mr S. K. Anderson.

The Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Stephen Opoku-Mensah, told the Daily Graphic that the candidate in question had provided wrong information on his nomination form and for that matter was disqualified.

He explained that Mr Anderson, not satisfied with the EC’s decision, went to the court to seek redress.

Opoku-Mensah said when the commission was duly notified at about 11:00 am on Monday, it had no choice but to suspend the elections in that area.

From Cape Coast, Shirley Asiedu-Addo reports that visits to some of the centres by the Daily Graphic indicated that the exercise had been incident free so far.

At the Adisadel Health Centre, in the Tsibu Darko electoral area, the exercise was going on smoothly at the time of the visit. A total of 621 registered voters were expected to cast their vote but only 11 had cast their vote as at 7.40am.

The Presiding officer, Mr Joseph Dadzie said he expected more voters later in the day.