Sunyani (B/A) Sept 26, GNA - Mr. John Henry Mensah, Chairman of National Development Planning Committee on Tuesday joined voters at the workers canteen polling station in Boahenkokor electoral area in Sunyani municipality to exercise his franchise in the municipal assembly elections.

Mr. Mensah, accompanied by Mr. Kwame Twumasi-Awuah, Municipal Chief Executive, went to the centre around 1000 hours after the municipality had experienced two short downpours early in the morning. A total of 173 out of 879 voters had exercised their franchise as at 10:30 am at the polling centre.

Mr. Mensah before casting his vote had earlier visited some polling stations and interacted with the electorate.

At the Presbyterian JSS, Presbyterian Primary Lower and Presbyterian Office polling centres at Boahenkorkor electoral area 68, 110 and 60 voters out of 560, 765 and 681 voters respectively had cast their votes as at 0900 hours.

A total of 68 valid votes out of 539 eligible voters at Twene Amanfo 1A polling centre, 44 out of 445 at Twene Amanfo IB and 47 out of 458 at Twene Amanfo 2A and 42 out of 462 at Twene Amanfo 2B polling centre at Atoase electoral area had been cast at the time. At the rural development store 1A centre 80 voters out of 838 had cast their votes while 65 out of 972 registered voters at rural development store 1B had voted and 85 out of 1,072 voters had exercised their franchise at the Bakers Cooperative office.

Many of the Presiding officers attributed the low turnout at the centres to the rainfall and expressed the hope that more of the electorate would turn up during the day to vote.

At the Berlin electoral area the election could not begin on the scheduled time as the result of the early morning downpour in the Sunyani municipality and when it was started around 0730 hours only a few people formed a queue to vote.

Representatives of the three candidates contesting in the area, including a female, polling officials and a Ghana Fire Service officer were ready at the centre at exactly 0700 hours for the exercise but they had to wait for the rain to subside.

By 1045 hours 41 out of 586 registered voters had cast their votes. Mr Frederick Amankwaa, presiding officer, attributed the low turn out in the morning to the downpour but expressed the hope that more voters would exercise their franchise as the day went by. At Abonsuam Anglican Primary A centre, Mr Joe Lartey, presiding officer, said 43 out of 265 registered voters had voted as at 1137 hours when the Ghana News Agency visited the centre.

He explained that most of the registered voters were either farmers or workers and would turn up to vote before the close of the exercise. Representatives of the five candidates and a female police officer were present at the centre.

Voter turn-out in Techiman municipality was low as eligible voters did not queue in their numbers as seen in Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Techiman being a viable commercial town, brisk business continued unabated without the rush of voters to polling stations to cast their votes.

Among the early voters of the 290 registered persons at the Roman Catholic Junior Secondary School centre of the Ahenboboano Electoral Area was the Queen mother of Techiman, Nana Afia Abrefa Koto. When the GNA visited the centre there had not been any cases of irregularities, the only problem being that some of the voters found it difficult to trace their names in the register.

The presiding officer later assisted such persons to locate their names and allowed them to vote even without their identity cards. At Hausaline electoral area, when the GNA visited four polling stations, Mr Malik Ahmed Seidu, presiding officer of Baptist Primary Centre said one of the three candidates, Sha-ban Mohammed, a trader, withdrew at the last minute.

He was contesting with Alhaji Adam Mohammed, contractor and the incumbent, and Johnson Adefina, self-employed.

A report from the GNA correspondent in Dormaa District said a downpour in the morning delayed the start of the exercise at 0700 hours, resulting in the low turn out when it was started around 0800 hours. The presiding members explained that it was a market day at Dormaa Ahenkro and the people, who were mostly farmers, would turn up in their numbers later to vote before the exercise ended. 26 Sept. 06