Ghanaians, on Monday, trooped out in millions to vote in the 2020 General Elections.
The elections, for the Presidency and the 275 Parliamentary seats saw a smooth and peaceful affair with very minimal hitches.
Contrary to the over 33,000 polling stations previously stated by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, citizens voted in 38,622 polling stations round the country.
Presidential candidates, incumbent, Nana Akufo-Addo voted in the Kyebi, East Akim Municipal district of the country while opposition candidate, John Mahama voted in the Bole district.
Akufo-Addo and Mahama, candidates of the NPP and NDC respectively, and old rivals, held their campaigns as peacefully as possible and transferred the impressive atmosphere into the election.
On Friday, December 4th, both candidates had signed a peace pact going into the elections.
The Vigilantes, notorious for causing violence during elections have also been abolished with threats of a 10-year jail term for anyone caught in the act.
Monday’s elections had 17million registered voters, but reports from the country said voter turnout may have reduced, in comparison to the 2016 election. This has been blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ghanaians, regardless of the pandemic still came out to vote, with their masks on, with locals saying voters had turned out in their polling stations as early as midnight waiting to vote for their preferred candidates.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sent 125 election observers to the country, while the European Union (EU) also had observers on the ground. There were also local and other international election observers monitoring proceedings at the elections.
There was a bit of controversy during the elections when the candidate of the NDC and former President, Mahama claimed that his bodyguard had not been registered to vote. The Electoral Commission quickly came out to correct the assertion and said the man had cast his vote.
The commission also sent out information to battle fake news and results in the election, while it also arrested electoral officials who tried to tamper with results.
Voting ended at 5 p.m with the time extended in areas like Tamale and Bantama due to the long queues of people waiting to vote. Collation of votes is still ongoing.
