Ghana’s 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections kick off on Tuesday with “special voting'' by staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) and security agencies that would be on duty during the Dec. 7 polls.
One polling station in each of the 275 constituencies has been designated for the special voting that would begin at 0700 GMT.
Those ballot boxes will be sealed and kept until Friday when the ballots would be counted together with those of the 14 million voters who would vote at 26,000 polling stations throughout the country.
There are eight presidential candidates, one of whom is an independent candidate.
They are President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Abu Sakara Foster of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and Mr Hassan Ayariga of the People’s National Convention (PNC).
Others are Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Mr Akwasi Addai of the United Front Party (UFP), Dr Henry Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and the independent candidate, Mr Joseph Osei-Yeboah.
According to the EC 1,332 candidates filed their nomination papers to contest for 275 seats in parliament.
They comprise 1,198 men and 134 women.
This is Ghana’s sixth election since the Fourth Republican constitution was promulgated in 1992.
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