Voting underway in 9 districts in Greater Accra Region

Accra, Dec 30, GNA - District and Unit Committee Elections voting in the Greater Accra Region started in nine out of the 15 districts on Thursda= y due to delays in printing of the ballot papers.

The Nine districts are: Ayawaso, Adenta, Osu Clottey, Tema, Ga East, Kpeshie, Ashiedu Keteke, Ga South, and Ga West. Voting in the other five districts; Dangme West, Okaikwei, Ashaiman, Ablekuma, Ledzokuku-Krowor and Dangme East has been fixed tentatively for Friday, December 31. Mr Mohammed Adoquaye, Greater Accra Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, explained to the Ghana News Agency that the public especially the electorate needed to bear with the Commission.

"We are all concerned about the inconsistency in the date for voting= , but we are constrained by circumstances 96 the EC is encountering serious difficulties with some of our printers who keep on giving us contradictory time for completion of work," Mr Adoquaye noted. Statistics available to the Ghana News Agency indicates that 2,501 candidates had filed nomination papers to contest for the Unit Committee Election in the Region, whilst 1,269 had filed to contest for the District Level Elections. The statistics showed that only 331 females are contesting at the Unit Committee level, whilst 133 females are contesting at the District Assembly level. Osu Clottey has the lowest female contestants of only three for the Unit Committee Election, whilst Ablekuma has the highest of 46. There is no female contestant for Ashiedu Keteke whilst Tema has the highest number of female contestants of 25.

In Ayawaso 69 candidates 96 60 male and nine female - are contesting for the District Assembly Elections (DAE)whilst 190 candidates 96 166 male and= 24 female has filed for the Unit Committee Elections (UCE). At Adenta 33 candidates 96 26 male and seven female are contesting fo= r the DAE whilst 46 candidates 96 33 male and 13 female are contesting for U= CE; Osu Clottey has 34 candidates -32 male and two femal for DAE whilst 42 candidates 96 39 male and three femal are contesting for the UCE.

Data for Tema shows that 183 candidates 96 158 male and 25 female are contesting for DAE whilst 137 candidates 96 123 male and 14 female are vyi= ng for UCE; Ga East statistics 68 candidates 96 58 male and ten female filed for DAE whilst 149 candidates 96 132 male and 17 female are contesting for the UCE. At Kpeshie 26 candidates 96 22 male and four female are vying for the DAE, whilst 69 candidates 96 61 male and eight female are contesting for U= CE; at Ashiedu Keteke all the 33 candidates vying for the DAE are male; whilst at the UCE level 73 candidates 96 67 male and six female are contesting. In Ga South 121 candidates 96 111 male and 10 female are contesting f= or the DAE, whilst 276 candidates 96 249 male and 27 female are vying for the UCE; and Ga West has 82 contestants with 75 male and seven female for DAE, whilst the UCE has 239 contestants 212 male and 27 female vying. The EC data also indicates an increase of electoral areas in the Greater Accra Region from 236 to 349 and the creation of additional 113 Electoral Areas.

Electoral areas in Ga West District have increased from 18 to 25; Ga East from 10 to 19; Ga South from 14 to 35; Okaikwei from 12 to 19; Ablekum= a from 18 to 24; Ashiedu Keteke from three to seven; and Osu Clottey from seven to nine. Other Districts are: Ayawaso from 15 electoral areas to 17; Kpeshie from five to 10; Lezokuku-Krowor from eight to 24; Tema from 39 to 51; Ashaiman from 11 to 15; Adenta from four to 12; Dangme West from 36 to 40 and Dangme East from 36 to 42.