The Electoral Commission (EC) says it has dispatched voting materials to the regions for the 2023 District Level Elections (DLE) of assembly and unit committee members to take place.
With the police providing the necessary security protection, the voting materials will be distributed to the voting centres between 12 midnight and 3:00 a.m Tuesday, to enable voting to take place at 7 a.m tomorrow.
According to the Deputy Chair of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, registered voters are encouraged to take keen interest in the DLE as citizens to enhance governance at the local level.
“Just go to where you registered to vote,” he said adding that with the adequate preparations already made so far, a voter would spend less than five minutes to cast his or her vote.
Dr Bossman-Asare told the Ghanaian Times yesterday, by phone that approximately 66,000 assembly and unit committee members would be elected tomorrow with a 70 per cent voter turnout expected as compared to 50 per cent turnout on December 17, 2019.
The Deputy EC Chair explained, however, that elections would not be held in electoral areas in which the candidates were going unopposed.
He added that adequate security measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of voters at the polling stations, saying the EC official would be on standby to direct voters to their appropriate centres to cast their vote.
The Deputy EC Chair said for a voter who had misplaced their Voter Card, “there was no need to panic, all you have to do is give your full name to the EC official who will identify you by your surname on the voters register and you are set to cast your ballot after going through the Biometric Verification System.”
Meanwhile, incumbent assembly and unit committee members on one hand are calling on the electorate to renew their mandate by voting them back to power for more development, while aspirants on the other hand, say they are bent on changing the status quo and therefore want the electorate to vote for new faces and enhanced leadership for development, the Ghanaian Times has gathered from correspondents across the country.
The 2023 DLE are in accordance with the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462), which provides for the election of assembly members to MMDAs.
Section 5(3) of Act 462 reads: “Elections to a district assembly shall be held once every four years, at least six months before or after a general election of Members of Parliament.”
Section 6(1) of Act 462 also states that for a person to qualify to be elected as a member of a district assembly, the person must be a citizen of Ghana above 18 years, a registered voter, ordinarily resident in the district they are seeking election, and also be a taxpayer.
BY NORMAN COOPER