Voting begins smoothly in Assin Bereku, but tensions arise over ballot box positioning

From Assin Bereku, Assin North Constituency, Graphic Online's Joana Kumi reports that most polling stations had set up by 6:15 AM when GraphicOnline arrived.

Many voters, some of whom arrived as early as 3 am, said they wanted to finish voting in time to return to their farms. Others said they had come early to the polling station to prevent some people from performing rituals at the polling grounds.

Several of the voters explained to GraphicOnline that they had been vigilant for about a week leading up to the election, keeping watch over the polling grounds. They recounted how, in previous elections, people had engaged in spiritual activities at the sites, which they believed had impacted election outcomes.

At the Methodist DA JSS Bereku polling station in Assin Bereku, the Presiding Officer, Peterking Afari Gyamfi, said as of 7:18 AM, 13 voters had already cast their votes out of 492.

The atmosphere at the centre was calm.

At the Catholic Primary School polling station, also in Assin Bereku, a misunderstanding arose among voters, party agents and election officials regarding the positioning of the ballot boxes.

When GraphicOnline arrived at 7:18 AM, the situation was still unresolved, and there was no security personnel, although some voters had already cast their ballots.

The District Electoral Officer, Ms Comfort Cristabel Okai, informed the media that she had contacted the Bereku police station to assign a security officer, and was told that one would be dispatched promptly.

By 7:56 am, a security officer had arrived on the scene to help the stakeholders reach a compromise on the positioning of the ballot box.

The Presiding Officer, Kwabena Abuasare, said voting officially began at 7:00 am, with five voters having already cast their votes before the misunderstanding. The total number of expected votes for this station is 649.