The Electoral Commission has announced the extension of polls at Dwarf Island, a town at Afram Plains in the Eastern Region.
The extension was necessitated by the late arrival of electoral materials to polling stations in the town. Although polls were scheduled to begin at 7am Wednesday, electoral materials arrived hours later.
Voting ended across the country two hours ago, at 5pm, but polls will close at 10pm at Dwarf Island, the EC announced at a press conference at its headquarters in Accra.
The Eastern Region branch of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) had called on the Commission to extend the voting period in the Afram Plains North Constituency, Wednesday.
The party says it is unhappy as a lot of voters in the constituency would be disenfranchised because of the late start of voting in most areas in the Region.
A statement signed by the Eastern Regional Secretary, Mark-Oliver Kevor, said the anomalies in the voting process as happened in the constituency has prevented many from exercising their voting right.
“Although polls opened at 7:00 a.m across the nation, some polling stations in Afram Plains North started voting as late as 2:05pm. These polling stations are Gallelia, Zion, Fripon, Akwetekope, Ada nteti, Kadekope, Batorkope and Baby.
“Electoral materials were sent to three polling stations namely: Papavikope, Fitikope, and CK Kope after 2:30 p.m. As at now [4:00pm], Abutsure Polling Station has not received Electoral materials for voting to commence,” the statement said.
The statement added, “We are therefore calling on the Electoral Commission to as a matter of importance, extend election in Afram Plains North Constituency to Thursday, December 8, 2016, for all these affected constituents to get the chance to exercise their constitutional right.”
Polling station results have begun trickling in from many parts of the country.
In a related development, the EC has announced that voting in Jaman Constituency in the Western Region has also been rescheduled to tomorrow, Thursday, December, 8.
