By Edward Acquah
Accra. Dec. 7, GNA – Ghana’s nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections are progressively smoothly since the opening of polls Saturday morning.
About seven hours into the voting, some voting centres visited by the Ghana News Agency, including those in Odododiodioo, Ablekuma North, and Anyaa Sowutuom, Ablekuma South constituencies in the Greater Accra Region had no queues.
The Electoral Commission has created multiple voting centres at polling stations that were hitherto congested to speed up the voting process.
The Commission said each voting centre would not have more 750 voters.
Voting commenced at 0700 hours and will close at 1700 hours.
So far, there have not been reports of any major incident that had disrupted the voting process in any part of the country.
However, there have been some pockets of infractions at some polling centres, with the Police effecting arrests and commencing investigations into the incidents.
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 during the ongoing General Election.
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 was ready to cooperate with investigations to get to the bottom of the matter.
The Police have 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 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 except for 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.
Once polls close at 1700 hours, 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 swworn in as President on January 7, 2025.
GNA