Mfantseman constituency: Voting delayed for five hours

Voting delayed for more than five hours in some polling stations within the Mfantseman constituency due to the late arrival of ballot papers. As at 12:00 hours, when the Ghana News Agency got to some polling stations, officials and security officers were waiting to commence the process. The affected electoral areas are New Nkusukum, Krokesim, Bakaano and Awiano electoral areas It was observed that many citizens who rushed to vote in the morning to continue their daily activities had left to work due to delays by the Electoral Commission. Mr Samuel Owusu, Municipal Director of Electoral Commission (EC) in an interview disclosed that the papers were not received on time hence the delay in the distribution process. He apologized to the public for the inconvenience caused and appealed to them to go and exercise their franchise. The distribution vehicles were seen already in the affected electoral areas with the materials. In all, there are about 36 electoral areas comprising more than 100 polling stations in the constituency. However, in many areas where the exercise started on time, there were low turnout when the GNA visited of 1300hrs. Some attributed the situation to the day being a working day and market day for some communities in the area. Most of the voters were seen going about their usual daily activities, especially at Anomabo which had its market day, on Tuesdays. Mama Araba Gyesua, a trader said joining long queues to vote was worthless. It was observed that many citizens who rushed to vote in the morning to continue their daily activities had left to work due to delays by the EC Source: Ghana News Agency