By Edward Acquah
Accra, Jan. 27, GNA – Voting has commenced at the Odorkor Saleria 1 Basic School in Accra, where the New Patriotic Party-Ablekuma North Constituency is holding its parliamentary primaries.
Voting started at about 07:23 hours and is expected to end at 14:00 hours.
The atmosphere at the election ground is calm, with police officers deployed at vantage points within and outside the voting area to maintain law order.
As of 06:30 hours, some delegates had already arrived at the voting centre.
The Police has directed all delegates to leave the voting perimeter immediately after voting.
To speed up the process, the EC has created two voting centres.
The two aspirants – Ms Sheila Bartels, the incumbent Member of Parliament, and Nana Akua Owusu Afriyieh, a former MP for the area, were seen engaging EC officials and agents ahead of voting.
The Ablekuma North Constituency has been in existence since 1992.
Areas under the jurisdiction of Ablekuma North include Kwashieman, Hong Kong, Kokompe, Darkuman, Nyamekye and parts of Dansoman.
Apart from 1992 that the National Democratic Congress’ candidate, Adam Baako Nortey Yeboah clinched the seat for the first time, the NPP has enjoyed monopoly of the seat for more than three decades.
The NPP’s Kwamena Bartels snatched the seat from the NDC in 1996 and retained the seats for three consecutive terms until 2008.
Another NPP candidate, Justice Joe Appiah, took the baton and won two consecutive elections – 2008 and 2012.
In 2016, Nana Afriyie maintained the NPP’s dominance and secured the seat, but could only do that for one term.
In a surprising turn of events, Sheila Bartels won the primaries and proceeded to win seat in the 2020 elections.
GNA