By Edward Acquah
Accra. Dec. 7, GNA – Polls have officially closed in Ghana’s nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections which took-off Saturday.
Voting officially ended at 1700 hours, however, persons in queues before the official closing time would be allowed to vote.
The Electoral Commission created multiple voting centres at polling stations that were hitherto congested to speed up the voting process.
Each of the more than 40,000 polling stations had not more than 750 voters.
Following the closure of polls, the ballots will be sorted and counted openly at each polling station, and results will be recorded on the Statement of Results sheet.
The winner of the parliamentary race in each constituency will be announced at the constituency collation centre.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission will declare the presidential election winner after collating the results from all 16 regions.
The winner will be sworn in as President on January 7, 2025.
The electoral process progressed smoothly nationwide, except a shooting incident in Nyankpala in the Northern Region, leading to the death of one person and injury to another.
The Police have since arrested four persons in connection with the tragic incident.
Earlier, the Police arrested a polling station agent for double voting at the Wassa Akropong-Appiahkrom polling station ‘A’ in the Western Region.
The suspect, Kwofie Stephen, is currently in custody assisting the Police investigation.
The Police also arrested an Electoral Commission official at Kintampo South Constituency in the Bono East Region, for electoral offences.
The suspect, Dery Joseph, is under investigation for issuing about 15 ballot papers to voters that omitted the first presidential candidate at the Ampesika-Bayere polling station.
The Electoral Commission has confirmed the incident and said it would cooperate with investigations to get to the bottom of the matter.
The Police again arrested one Michael Allotey, for possessing a weapon at the St. Theresa School polling station in the Okaikwei South Constituency in Accra.
Allotey is currently in custody assisting in the Police investigation.
Giving an update on the Progress of Polls Saturday afternoon, the EC said the elections started on time at nearly 99 per cent of polling stations.
Mr Samuel Tetteh, Deputy EC Chairperson in Charge of Operations, told journalists in Accra that electoral materials, including biometric devices were functioning with the exception of one or two polling stations where officials had difficulty starting, but had been addressed.
“We have not actually had any reported incidents of either violence or quarrelling. At each polling station, we have the presiding officer, name reference list , a verification officer, the ballot issuer for the presidential, and the parliamentary at post,” he said.
GNA