Voting by the National Democratic Congress has entered its second day after logistical constraints among other factors triggered delays causing long winding queues at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre in Accra.
Inadequate polling centres for the over 9,000 delegates have been blamed for the cause of the delays in the election of national executives of the party. There are five polling centres for the entire process.
“Voting has been going on at a slow pace,” a delegate in a long-winding queue told 3News, adding “it’s been dragging and it has caused a lot of frustration for us”.
Some delegates question why a party election should enter into a second day when even a national election with more candidates and voters is done in a day.
At least delegates from seven regions are said to have cast their votes in the election which has the national chairmanship and the general secretary positions as the key among the about 10 positions being voted for in the election.
It has been over 13 hours since polls opened Saturday for the election but polls are yet to close for counting to begin, something that has caused anxiety among delegates who have had to go through torturous processes to cast their ballot.
By 10:00pm Saturday delegates waiting to cast their votes and some who had gone through the process started to catch some sleep in their chairs at the event grounds after a long day of activities.
Our correspondents at the event grounds reported that by Sunday dawn, delegates from the far away regions who had finished voting were seen departing to their various destinations even before voting closes.
In 2014, the NDC Congress expanded the electoral college from about 4,000 to over 9,000.
It appears the general secretary of the party Johnson Asiedu Nketia who is seeking to retain his position anticipated the voting challenges ahead of the poll on Saturday.
“When you get to the voting too, you realise even in the past where the delegation was around 4,000 we had to vote till late hours of the day and now if we are having 9,000 I can anticipate that it will drag” he told Kwakye Afreh-Nuamah at the start of the congress Saturday.
A total of 89 candidates put themselves up for this year’s national executive elections. 65 are contesting for 10 positions in the ongoing election. The remaining 24 had earlier taken part in the Women’s and Youth elections which took place on October 27.
The positions being contested for are the national chairman, vice-chairman, general secretary, deputy general secretary, national organiser, deputy national organiser, communications officer, deputy communications officer, national executive committee members and the Zongo caucus coordinator.
By 3news.com|Ghana
