Accra, Dec. 29, GNA - Voting begun officially on Wednesday in five regions in District Level polls that will see the election of District Assembly and Unit Committee members.

The polls opened at 0700 hours in the Upper East, Volta, Ashanti, Northern and Bring Ahafo regions, the second set of regions to vote in the rescheduled elections because of the late printing of ballot papers. Voting will end at 1700 hours The elections in the Greater Accra Region, which were also to have bee= n held on Wednesday, were postponed on Tuesday night until Thursday. The Upper West and Central regions voted on Tuesday while the Eastern Region and Western regions will also vote on Thursday. Electoral statistics for the five regions available to the Ghana News Agency show that in the Upper East Region, a total of 896 candidate, made u= p of 826 males and 70 females are vying for the District Assemblies whilst a total of 2,763 (2,561 males and 202 females) are contesting the Unit Committee Election. The Volta region data show that a total of 1,833 candidates (1,646 males and 187 females are contesting the District Assembly whilst 4,211 candidates (3,753 males and 458 females) are contesting for the Unit Committee Election. In the Ashanti Region the record shows that 3,393 contestants (3,153 males and 240 females) are contesting the District Assembly election whilst 9,473 candidates (8,431 male and 1,042 female) are contesting at the Unit Committee level.

The Northern Region recorded 1,749 candidates (1,604 males and 145 females) vying for District Assemblies and 4,009 candidates (3,787 males an= d 222 females) are contesting the Unit Committee Election. The Brong Ahafo Region has 1,979 candidates (1,830 males and 149 females) contesting for District Assemblies and 6,187 candidates (5,578 males and 609 females) are contesting the Unit Committee Elections. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, called for the co-operation of all stakeholders, as it took the necessary steps to address the operational hiccups.

Dr Afari-Gyan said the Commission was capable of overcoming the glitches being encountered and urged voters, security agencies and the media, especially radio presenters, to be circumspect in their actions and pronouncements. The EC Chairman, who is in the Ashanti Region to monitor the polls, appealed to media practitioners, especially radio presenters, not to presen= t localized problems observed during the process as a national one. 29 Dec. 10

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