The voting process began quite smoothly in the Sowutuom Anyaa Constituency in the Greater Accra Region as voters troop to cast their ballot.
One common thing with most of the centers is that voters had gone there very early in the morning in order to avoid the usual long queues that characterize elections in some parts of the region.
Many have so far expressed satisfaction with the process which has not recorded any incidents in the constituency.
At the Emmanuel Preparatory polling centre, the process began few minutes after 7am.
The centre which has a voter population of 420 had seen 22 people cast their votes as at 7:50am.
The Sowutuom Last Stop 2A poling station recorded a huge crowd as voters took their turn to cast their ballots.
A total of 570 people are expected to vote at the centre and as at 8:05am, 42 had already voted.
The situation was not different at the Lomnava Catholic Seminary centers which has three different centres each divided into two – 1A/1B, 2A/2B and 3A/3B.
A total of 2,642 people are expected to cast their ballot at theses centres and as at 9:15, about 360 people had voted.
The presiding officers and party agents at the various centres who spoke to Dailyguideonline said the process had been smooth so far and expected that it would remain same.
Early Arrivals
Some of the voters in a bid to avoid spending hours in long queues had gone to the centre very early in the day.
Some of them who spoke to Dailyguideonline said they had gone to the centre as early as 2am.
One who introduced herself as Sarah said she had gone to the centre as early 2am because of the struggle she had to go through during the registration process.
But after looking at the number of people who had queued to vote, she said she wished she hadn’t gone to the poling station that early.
Presiding Officers
Most of the presiding officers also expressed delight at the process especially the way voters have approached it.
One of them, Dadebea Abena, at the Christ Preachers Poling Station stated that the process had been smooth.
“We have not encountered any challenges here. The machines are working properly and the voters are cooperating with us. So I will say so far so good,” she stated.
Covid-19 Protocols
One common factor at all the centres in the area is the strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic.
At all the centres, the presiding officers ensure that a person who turns up is wearing a nose mask, their temperature taken, made to wash their hands as well as apply hand sanitizers before they approach the electoral officers for the ballot papers.
Profile
The Anyaa-Sowutuom Constituency is considered a stronghold of the ruling NPP which has won the majority of votes in the area in the 2012 and 2016 general elections.
The current Member of Parliament for the area, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has won the seat for three times and decided to pull out of the NPP primaries.
The Parliamentary seat is being contested by Dr. Dickson Amoako Kissi of the NPP and Emmanuel Adotei Allotey of the NDC as well four others.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak