MCE confirmation hangs as CCMA makes 8th attempt to elect PM

The nominee for the CCMA, Ernest Arthur, [R] seated with some assembly members.[/caption]For the eighth time, the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly will this morning attempt the election of a Presiding Member to pave the way for the confirmation of the Municipal Chief Executive nominated by President Akufo-Addo. [caption id="attachment_50126" align="aligncenter" width="564"] Some of the assembly members ahead of the vote[/caption] The Assembly has since this year failed seven times to elect a presiding member since all the candidates who stood failed on those times to get the two-thirds majority vote required to occupy the position of chairing the Assembly, TV3’s Thomas Cann reported.Currently, the assembly members and officials of the Electoral Commission have gathered at the hall of the Assembly in Cape Coast to elect a PM ahead of today’s confirmation of Mr Ernest Arthur, the Cape Coast South Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, as the next municipal chief executive. [caption id="attachment_50127" align="aligncenter" width="564"] The EC officials[/caption] The Assembly will be forced to push Mr Arthur’s confirmation to a later date should members fail to elect a presiding member at today’s special sitting, Cann reported. Although Joel Eshun stands unopposed in today’s the Presiding Member election, he is required to get two-thirds vote of the entire membership of the Assembly which stands at 66 with the exclusion of the MCE who is yet to be confirmed. At the first attempt, two members of the Assembly, Lawrence Ampah, Joel Eshun, contested but none managed to get the required vote after two rounds of elections. Lawrence Ampah, Joel Essun and Benjamin Agbeyeku battled it out on the second attempt but they all failed to get two-thirds of the vote after two rounds of elections. At the third attempt which saw three rounds of elections, Lawrence Ampah, stood unopposed. By 3news.com|Ghana]]>