Voting takes off quietly, business dull

Voting in Election 2000 started quietly on Thursday with reports of pockets of delay in some areas due to the late arrival of voting material and some voters not finding their names in the register.

Four presidential candidates - Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby of the United Ghana Movement (UGM), Professor George Hagan of the Convention People's Party (CPP) and Mr John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) - had voted by 1000 hours.

Long queues have formed at all the poling stations with voters anxious to cast their ballots in the historic elections that will see one elected leader handing power to another one in the 43-year history of the country. Some voters said they joined the queue as early as 0400 hours to ensure that they exercise their franchise. Even the elderly came to the polling stations early to vote.

Madam Janet Sawyerr, 75, one of the early voters at West 4 and 5 polling stations at Ablekuma Central said: " I got here before 0600 hours to avoid a crowd." "I am old and cannot stand for long hours, so I decided to come early," she said. The Central Business District is dull as it struggles to come to life. Virtually all shops were shut when GNA toured the area at about 0900 hours.

The cashier at a supermarket near the offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), one of the few to open, said she has lost her voter ID card and would therefore not vote. Vehicles are plying the roads but the normal frustrating early morning traffic jam is completely missing. The banks on High Street opened promptly at 0830 but there were only a few customers. A cashier at Standard Chartered Bank told the GNA that he would vote when another cashier replaces him.

"I will vote later in the day," he said. "It is very quiet in here today because of the election. Normally, there is a lot of activity in here when the bank opens," he said. The ministries were also virtually empty as civil servants are also out voting. The day is not a public holiday. This is the third successive multi-party election under President Jerry Rawlings, who transformed himself from a military leader into a democratically elected president in 1996. His term of office ends on January 7, next year. Some 10.7 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots during the 10-hour period in more than 20,000 polling stations across the country to elect a new president and 200 parliamentarians.

Polling continues until 1700 hours unless they are extended because of technical reasons. The first results are expected late on Thursday night or early on Friday morning. The Electoral Commission expects all results to be declared within 72 hours.

Seven presidential candidates, all supported by political parties, are contesting for the highest office in the land. They are Vice-President John Atta Mills (National Democratic Congress), Mr John Agyekum Kufuor (New Patriotic Party), Dr Edward Mahama (People's National Convention) and Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby (United Ghana Movement). The rest are Mr Goosie Tanoh (National Reform Party), Professor George Hagan (Convention People's Party) and Mr Dan Lartey (Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).

The candidate who wins 50 per cent of the votes plus one wins the presidential contest and would rule for four years. In the event of no candidate winning that magic number in the first round, there would be a run-off between the top-two candidates in two weeks.

According to figures compiled by the Ghana News Agency, 1,063 parliamentary candidates, including 93 women, are contesting but there have been several last-minute pullouts by candidates of opposition parties in favour of the NDC. President Rawlings in a broadcast on Wednesday night said it is the responsibility of officials of the Electoral Commission (EC), especially those at the polling stations, to be fair and truthful and not to condone irregularities that could bring the results of the general election into disrepute.

"As the end of my term of office as your President draws nearer, it is my deepest wish to see my successor, whoever he may be, elected honourably, fairly and without any rancorous controversy," he said. He appealed to Ghanaians to demonstrate their maturity and sense of civic responsibility by calmly going through the voting procedure and then leaving the polling station for the authorised officials to do their duty.

The voting is going ahead after the Supreme Court cleared the knotty issue of the form of identification for the poll. The elections were thrown into doubt when a voter sued the EC over its decision to allow only holders of photo ID cards to vote. Mr Philip Kwaku Apaloo of Kaneshie, in Accra, filed the suit last Wednesday saying the EC's decision was inconsistent with Article 42 of the constitution.

He sought a relief that not until the case is determined; the elections should not be conducted. A five-member Supreme Court presided over by Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, unanimously ruled that registered voters with either the photo or thumb-printed ID card can vote in Thursday's presidential and parliamentary elections. It ruled further that voters with thumbprint IDs are not required to be identified at polling stations by Returning Officers and party agents.

The court declared as void the Electoral Commission's directives issued on November 11 that the Returning Officer and party agents must identify voters in possession of thumbprint cards. It also declared void other directives given to polling agents and party representatives at polling stations with regard to identification of voters with thumbprint cards.