Early voting ends successfully

A special voting exercise on Tuesday for eligible voters of selected institutions and professions, as well as security agents ahead of the December 7 general elections has ended successfully across the country.

Spots of confusion dotted the exercise though, as voters who cast their votes outside constituencies they are originally registered, could only vote in the presidential elections.

As in previous elections, an earlier impression was created that they could vote in both the presidential and parliamentary polls.

Those who were refused voting in the parliamentary elections had to choose between travelling to their constituencies to cast their votes for their presidential and parliamentary candidates or forfeit the parliamentary vote.

They could also abandon the special voting exercise altogether to be eligible to vote on Sunday, December 7, when general elections to elect a president and 230 parliamentarians are due.

The exercise was aimed at freeing the special voters for voting day so they can provide crucial services. They include security personnel, medics, media practitioners as well as staff and officials of the Electoral Commission.

High turnout

At the Osu Police Station where the Klotey Korle Constituency voting was conducted, 954 persons (278 females and 676 males) voted as at close of the exercise moments before 6pm.

Queues were stopped shortly after 5pm, and even though a number of voters were yet to cast their votes, they all cast their votes successfully, except those whose names were not found in registers provided for the exercise.

Returning officer Adonae Clement told Myjoyonline that a misunderstanding between election officers and voters over who qualified to vote, which led to the suspension of the exercise for about two hours, was amicably resolved.

The centre created two work stations for the exercise due to the large number of voters and on the balance, “it was a very successful exercise.”

At the Kotobabi Police Station where the Ayawaso Central ballots were conducted, a total of 864 persons voted, made up of 304 for parliamentary and 560 presidential.

The Returning Officer for the constituency, Mr Edward Ofei Quansah, told Myjoyonline that apart from misunderstandings early in the exercise over who was qualified to vote, the rest of the day went very smoothly.

The situation in the other regions were more peaceful.

According to Joy regional correspondents, the exercise was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.

In the Ashanti Region, a total of 397 out of 600 voters had cast their ballots at the Police Depot polling centre at Patasi at 1:00 pm. Correspondent Elton John Brobbey reported there was no shortage of materials and the general feeling of the electorate was high expectation of a peaceful election on December 7.

In Cape Coast, the polling centre was said to have been deserted at 2:30pm after an early mad rush by voters to cast their ballots in the morning.

According to correspondent Richard Kojo Nyarko, the situation was replicated in the other polling stations in the region such as Elmina. No controversy was recorded, he noted.

The situation in the Eastern Region was no different from that in Ashanti. According to Benjamin Henaku, a total of 1244 voters had exercised their franchise from an expected total of 1262.

He said the exercise went on smoothly with lots of cordiality between party agents.

Even though some of the voters were unable to cast their ballots for their parliamentary choices, it did not degenerate into any chaos, he pointed out.

But for some few names that were missen on the register which prevented some voters from exercising their franchise, the exercise in the Western Region was said to have ended peacefully.

Meanwhile the Acting Director of Public Affairs, Christian Owusu Pare insist there is little the EC could do for those who were unable to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

He blamed the affected voters for failing to transfer their votes to the appropriate constituencies to allow them vote in the parliamentary elections.

On Joy FM's News Night Mr. Pare explained that the special exercise was to give those eligible to vote a special dispensation to vote before December 7, but that did not mean they could vote in constituencies they had not been registered.

He gave the assurance that the EC would be up to the task on Sunday in order to ensure peace during and after the elections.

Listen to excerpts of the interview with the Regional correspondents and Mr. Pare,in the attached audio.

JoyOnline, Dec. 3rd, 2008