The Special Assistant to the Vice President, Mr Andrews Awuni has explained that the Vice President did not vote because his constituency, the Dagbon traditional area is still under a state of emergency. The Electoral Commission, (EC) has therefore, postponed all forms elections in that area indefinitely.

He was reaching to media reports that the Vice President could not vote because the EC did not adhere to his request to have his vote transferred to Accra. Mr Awuni also told a local radio station on Thursday that the President Mr J.A. Kufour might have the opportunity to cast his vote on Tuesday, 13th August, 2002.

This is because the Ayawaso sub-metro, which is the President’s constituency had its polls postponed to 13th August, 2002. The president who left the country on the 26h July, 2002 to Malaysia and India to attend the Smart Partnership Dialogue and he is expected back home on Saturday, 10th of August, 2002.

The Vice President’s special Assistant said the low voter turn out could be attributed to the poor packaging of electoral messages by the EC, lack of voter confidence in the aspiring assembly men/women, lack of proper understanding of the district assembly concept among other things. Mr Awuni therefore suggested that the EC should embark on a vigorous educational campaign to sensitise voters on the need to exercise their franchise especially at the District Assembly level, which is a very vital area in the nation’s democratic development.

Meanwhile, some aspiring assembly man/women have called for the setting up an independent body to investigate the inability of the Electoral Commission to successfully conduct this year’s District Assembly Polls.

The Executive Secretary of the Federation of International Women Lawyers, FIDA Ghana, Miss Ghana Ofori Boadu told a local radio station that this has become necessary because the EC has held successful presidential and parliamentary elections from 1992 through to year 2000 including the district assembly polls without any hitches.

Miss Ofori Boadu, who is herself an aspiring assembly woman said she therefore could not understand why this year’s polls had to be postponed twice in some areas, aside the low level of publicity given to it. She said most aspiring Assembly men/women have spent a lot for their campaigns and the postponement would mean that “we have to embark on another spending spree but hei, where is the money going to come from”?.

She therefore suggested that the EC should foot the bills of all aspiring Assembly men/women whose areas have been affected by the postponement.