Voting - Koforidua

In Koforidua, long but well-organised queues were seen at a number of polling stations the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited before voting took off at 0700 hours. The queues started forming around 0400 hours, early voters and polling assistants told the GNA. At the Two Streams Temporary booth, the queue stretched as far as on roads. Residents in the New Juaben Municipality came out in their numbers to exercise their franchise.

Miss Esther Boateng, an Agricultural Engineering graduate, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, said she joined the queue around 0400 hours and was yet to cast her vote as at 0715 hours. At the Koforidua Nurses Training School Polling Station, Mr Amoako Baah, the Presiding Officer, said the conduct of voters had been orderly and that 29 persons had voted as at 0730 hours out of the 784 registered voters. The Forestry Department Office Polling Station recorded 97 voters as at 0755 hours out of a total of 755 votes. The situation was not different from other polling stations visited including the Railway station where 67 out of 1,115 had voted by 0800 hours. At the Legion Hall Polling Station 85 people had voted as at 0819 hours out of 686 votes.

At the Akwadum Highway Polling Centre, 179 out of 629 had cast their votes as at 0930 hours, whiles the Akwadum Road Bungalow Polling Centre had also recorded 107 out of 315 in a serene atmosphere. With the exception of the Convention People's Party (CPP), who had no agents at most of the polling centres visited all the parties namely the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), People's National Convention (PNC), Democratic People's Party (DPP) and independent candidate had party agents at one centre or the other. The GNA realised that some of the NDC polling agents faced difficulties with accreditation in the New Juaben South Constituency. Presiding Officers explained that the EC have directed that party agents without accreditation should not allowed at the centres. This situation resulted in confusion at the Akwadum Highway polling station where an argument ensued between the New Juaben Constituency Chairman of the NDC, Mr Richard Foster and the Presiding Officer, Mr Emmanuel Koranteng.

When the Municipal Electoral Officer, Miss Lydia Egyiri, was contacted she confirmed the EC's directive. However, she said to ensure fairness she had directed all the presiding officers to allow any agent whose accreditation letter had not been signed to the polling station to perform their duty.