The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has revealed that most of the biometric verifying machines “worked well” during the just-ended District Assembly elections.
The machines which were used in the 2012 general elections, caused massive delays because many of them broke down and subsequently forced the Electoral Commission to extend voting into the following day.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Z10lZkTa6Vvk4jrlBMnJrpUIqtMmdDii”]In some constituencies, the machines failed to work at all, a situation which compelled EC officials to verify voters by other means.
In an interview however, the National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Arhin told the host of Eyewitness News Richard Sky, that the siuation was different during the district assembly and unit elections.
“What we [CODEO] saw was that the machines were working well.”
He added that even in the Eastern Region where a few of them broke down, “they were later repaired and were put into good use.”
Low Turnout
Mr. Arhin also expressed concerns over the low participation in the elections, describing it as “disappointing.”
“What we observed was that throughout the country, participation was not satisfactory. The participation was not good,” he added.
CODEO suspects the initial postponement from March to September, might have accounted for the disinterest.
“CODEO is thinking probably the botched one might have contributed to the problem. A lot of the aspirants were disappointed. Some stopped campaigning because they did not have the funds to go ahead…,” he explained.
The District Assembly elections was initially slated for March 3 2015, but was suspended in February when an aspiring assembly man, Benjamin Eyi Mensah dragged the EC to court after he was denied the opportunity to file his nomination forms.
The EC later sent to Parliament, a new legislation to enable it run the District Assembly Elections.
Eyi Mensah has gone ahead to win the elections in the Eyipeh electoral area in the Central Region.
He polled 1,063 votes to beat his closest rival Ebenezer Mensah who polled 583 votes.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana