The much-hyped December 7 polls has come to an end across all voting centers and the sorting and collation of ballot keenly underway. The election is to allow Ghanaians to decide who lead at both the Presidency and the Parliament in the next four years.
The Electoral Commision in its first Press Briefing on the Election Day at their Headquarters, the Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of operations, Samuel Tettey remarked that about 99% of the Polling Stations commenced the voting process at exactly 7:00AM-a significant improvement from the last edition in 2020.
“We are pleased to announce that 99% of polling stations began voting promptly at 7am, demonstrating our commitment to a seamless electoral process,” he stated.
He recounted the Biometric Verification Devices worked perfectly and the processing time for voters saw a huge decline lasting less than 5minutes and as at 5:00pm voting has ended most Polling Centres. The EC official also indicated that, the Voter Turnout was massive according reports the EC has gathered.
“Voter Turn Out, the report reaching us indicates that it has been very massive, the elections have been seamless, devoid of the usual Hussle that characterized previous elections”, he added.
The Electoral Commission attributes the success of the elections to a careful strategy mapped up by the Commission.
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“The were able to achieved because we set up a strategy that ensures a smooth flow of the process. This include the threshold at 750 and the increase of Polling Station throughout the country. In 2020, we had 38,622 Polling Stations and this was increased this year to 40,648. A difference of 2,026 Polling Stations”, he continued.
According to Samuel Tettey, the election process was peaceful despite a few pockets of violent incidence at some Polling Centres.
“The process has been very peaceful with the exception of one or two pockets of violence which unfortunately resulted in the death of one person. It is unfortunate, this should not have happened”, he told the Press.
The Electoral Commission via the Briefing heaped praises on all its electoral officials and agents deployed at the various Polling Cantres for exhibiting professionalism throughout the voting process.
“We thank our staff for the good work done, for the show of high level of professionalism. The agents have also cooperated well but we continue to urge them to do so throughout the collation exercises up the final declaration of the results”-Samuel Tettey
He could not hide his eulogy for the media for the outstanding coverage of the historic ninth edition of general elections since 1992.
“Media has done your job greatly, in a professional way and we appreciate that. You heard pursuant to fraud practices which was very good. But You want to continue to work professionally and also urge you to ALWAYS ensure that those results you will announce will be the same as what the Electoral Commission has declared”, he concluded.
Collation of ballots continues as Ghana awaits for the Commission to announce winners in the coming hours of the race to the Presidency and to the floor of Parliament.
