Western Region ready for assembly polls tomorrow
The Western Regional Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) is set to conduct the district assembly and unit committee elections tomorrow.
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A total of 1, 650 candidates, including 58 women are contesting the assembly elections while 4, 321 with 324 being women, are taking part in the unit committee poll in the region.
The Western Regional Director of the EC, Mr Stephen Opoku-Mensah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Sekondi, however, said elections would not take place in 15 electoral areas since there was only one candidate each in those areas.
The region has 544 electoral areas.
Election materials/electoral offence
He indicated that, all biometric devices, ballot papers and other election materials had been dispatched to the districts, and that officials for the election have received technical and procedural training while mounting of platforms by the candidates will end today.
Mr Opoku-Mensah explained that, five officials would take care of polling stations where the simultaneous elections would take place but in the case of those areas where a single poll was being conducted, four of them would be in charge, adding that, one agent was to represent each of the candidates at a time.
So far, he said, his office had not received any report of a candidate committing any electoral offence and advised the contestants to go about their campaigns with civility, devoid of insults and casting of insinuations.
The EC Regional Director also urged the prospective voters to go to their polling stations early from 7:00 a.m. to cast their ballot, leave and come back to witness counting of the ballot if they so wished.
He again advised them to listen carefully to instructions by the election officials so as to avoid spoilage of ballot papers to the disadvantage of their preferred candidates; one for the assembly election and five for the unit committee.
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Police command
In a related development, the Western Regional Police Command has put in place measures to ensure a peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections before, during and after.
‘‘In the region, I want to assure the general public that, adequate measures have been planned such that, every polling station is provided with security,’’ the Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Isaac Alex Quainoo, promised in an interview with the Daily Graphic in his office in Sekondi.
However, he said the people should assist the police by way of conforming to laid down procedures saying, ‘‘In fact, we will not tolerate anyone found causing trouble at the polling stations.’’
Flashpoints
According to DCOP Quianoo, the police had identified flashpoints within some polling stations and so security would be beefed up in those precincts, adding that apart from security at the polling stations, there would be standby police/military personnel to be called upon in case there is the need for further assistance.
Mr Quianoo added that patrol teams would also go round to ensure that everything went on smoothly.
‘‘We wish to appeal to all prospective voters to cast their votes peacefully and wait for the outcome of the elections later without quarrels and resorting to behaviour that could necessitate the use of minimum force on them,’’ the police commander urged.