Voting ends in Ghana's historic elections

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Voting in Ghana's historic election ended officially at 1700 hours in the presidential and parliamentary elections throughout the 22,000 polling stations on Sunday.

Counting begins immediately at the polling stations to witness by the Party Agents, Observers, and the general public who would observe from a distance. The first results are expected later on Sunday evening through to early Monday.

Voting was generally peaceful except in some polling stations where the behaviour of party agents created confusion. An unspecified number of people were arrested trying to vote more than once or impersonate.

There were delays in voting in some polling stations and the EC would extend the time accordingly to allow the stipulated 10-hour voting period. Some 12.5 million voters were expected to have voted. There were eight presidential candidates and 1,064 parliamentary candidates contesting for the 230 constituencies. The polls was to elect a President and 230 Parliamentarians in what promises to be an exciting contest among four front-running political parties - New Patriotic (NPP); National Democratic Congress (NDC); People's National Convention (PNC) and Convention People's Party (CPP). Some political analysts have gone further to narrow the contest down to between the ruling NPP and the main opposition NDC with CPP expected to cause a stir and probably push the contest into a second round. Polling started at 0700 hours and continued to 1700 hours. The first results are expected late on Sunday night or early on Monday morning. The Electoral Commission expects all results to be declared within 72 hours.