Ashanti tops in voter turnout

The Ashanti Region recorded the highest voter turnout during the presidential and parliamentary elections with 64.01 per cent out of 1,976,959 registered voters.

The Volta Region recorded the lowest turnout of 58.2 per cent of 963,568 registered voters. According to figures available to the Ghana News Agency, the Central Region followed with 63.8 per cent of registered voter population of 870,876, with the Eastern Region recording 63.7 per cent of 1,187,573 registered voters.

The Northern Region, with a registered voter population of 910,911, recorded 62.2 per cent and while the Upper East Region, with a registered voter population of 480,894, recorded 60 per cent turnout.

The statistics indicates that Upper West Region recorded 59.8 per cent of registered voter population of 303,264 while Greater Accra, with a voter population of 1,845,869 recorded 58.8 per cent. The Western Region recorded 58.6 per cent of a voter population of 1,076,778, followed by the Brong Ahafo Region, which recorded 58.4 per cent of a voter population of 1,041,920.

In 1996, Ashanti recorded 79.1 per cent; Brong Ahafo 72; Central 79.1; Eastern 81.1; Greater Accra 78.4; Northern 77.0; Upper East 80.6; Upper West 75.8; Volta 81.8; and Western Region 74.5 per cent.

The Ghana News Agency analysis indicated that the NDC presidential candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, recorded his highest vote of 88.01 per cent in the Volta Region while his lowest of 22.78 per cent was recorded in the NPP stronghold, Ashanti Region.

Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor, NPP presidential candidate, recorded his highest of 75.55 per cent in the Ashanti Region while his lowest of 6.94 per cent was recorded in the NDC stronghold, Volta Region.

Prof. Mills' regional performance in percentages showed that he recorded 43.93 in the Western; 43.79 in the Central; 43.21 in the Greater Accra; 41.34 in the Eastern; 44.64 in the Brong Ahafo; 50.75 in the Northern; 52.07 in the Upper East, and 62.20 in the Upper West.

In the 1996 Presidential elections, the NDC candidate made his strongest showing of 99.3 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the Anlo constituency of the Volta Region and 18.3 per cent as his lowest performance in the Bantama constituency of Ashanti Region.

The NPP candidate scored 80.7 per cent in Bantama as his highest and 0.6 per cent at Anlo as the lowest. Mr Kufuor recorded 50.54 per cent in the Western; 49.68 in the Central; 53.18 in the Greater Accra; 54.97 in the Eastern; 50.55 in the Brong Ahafo; 29.58 in the Northern; 21.46 in the Upper East and 16.51 in the Upper West.

On the constituency level, Prof. Mills won 73 out of 200 and recorded his highest vote of 94.6 per cent at Anlo in the Volta Region while his lowest of 10.4 per cent was recorded at Atwima Kwanwoma in the Ashanti Region. Mr Kufuor on the other hand won 105 and recorded his highest vote of 88.2 per cent in Atwima Kwanwoma while his lowest of 1.0 per cent was recorded at Bawku West in the Upper East. The total ballot cast in the general election was 6,511,291 of which 55,683 were rejected as invalid votes for various reasons.