The District Level Election to elect Assembly and Unit Committee members in the Kwesimintsim Sabon Zongo Electoral Area in the Western Region scheduled to take place has been canceled.
This was due to the misplacement of pictures of the candidates on the ballot paper.
The pictures of the four candidates contesting for the position of assembly member in the electoral area on the Notice of Poll revealed that Abdul Buhari Osman, one of the candidates, is in the number two position.
However, on the ballot paper yesterday, Buhari Osman’s picture was at the number one position.
Due to that alleged mishap, the Electoral Commission (EC) had to cancel the election and reschedule it for Thursday, December 19, 2023.
Speaking to DGN Online in an interview, Abdul Buhari Osman expressed disappointment at the hitch indicating that throughout his campaign he had been informing the electorate that he was at the number two position on the ballot paper.
“You know my electoral area has lots of elderly men and women who cannot read and so I told them that I am at the number two position so they should thumbprint at the number two position on the ballot paper”.
“So I was worried when it was revealed that my position on the ballot paper has been changed”.
“Even though the election has been rescheduled for Thursday, it could adversely affect my chances of winning since some of the electorates traveled from far places to come and vote for me. Those people might not be able to come back to vote on Thursday”, he indicated.
The Western Regional EC boss, Madam Effah Wilson confirmed to journalists that indeed the election in that electoral area has been rescheduled for Thursday.
She indicated that the problem did not emanate from her outfit but probably the printing house which was engaged to print the ballot papers in Accra.
“The notice of poll was pasted in some parts of the electoral area long ago indicating the positions of all the candidates on the ballot paper”.
“So we did not know what happened but I will apologize to the electorate and appeal to them to come out in their numbers on Thursday to elect their assembly member and unit committee members”, he added.
Meanwhile, in the Western Region 1,134 males, representing 94.7 percent are contesting for assembly member positions while only 64 females representing 5.3 percent are contesting.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi