STORY: Ghana holds special voting ahead of general elections
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 2, 2024
DATELINE: Dec. 3, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:41
LOCATION: Accra
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the special voting
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ZANETOR AGYEMAN-RAWLINGS, Incumbent member of parliament for the Korle-Klottey Constituency
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): LYDIA EGYIRI, Municipal electoral officer 

STORYLINE:

Polls opened early Monday at selected polling stations across Ghana for special voting ahead of the general elections scheduled for Dec. 7.

The special voting allows individuals, including security personnel, journalists, electoral commission officials, and civil society activists, who will be performing their duties away from polling stations during the main elections, to cast their ballots.

The Electoral Commission (EC) said about 131,478 individuals, representing 0.007 percent of registered voters, are eligible to cast their ballots in Monday's special votes.

Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, an incumbent member of parliament for the Korle-Klottey Constituency, told Xinhua the process for the special voting was smooth all morning.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ZANETOR AGYEMAN-RAWLINGS, Incumbent member of parliament for the Korle-Klottey Constituency
"Voting started on time, which is a good sign. I hope that on the 7th of December, we will have people and everything in place so that voting actually starts on time as well. I believe that if we can replicate this on Dec. 7, I think that the people of Ghana will be more inclined to trust the outcome. I think it really comes down to the EC playing that role of a neutral referee in this whole process."

At the Legon Police Station polling station in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Lydia Egyiri, a municipal electoral officer, expressed satisfaction with the smooth process. She told Xinhua that all the biometric machines, including the verification devices, were working perfectly and voters were comporting themselves properly.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): LYDIA EGYIRI, Municipal electoral officer
"All the expected voters are coming in their numbers to vote. Currently, we have 598 people who have cast their votes out of 935, so you can imagine that the voting process is going smoothly."

According to the EC, the special voting for the Western Region and the Eastern Region is postponed to Dec. 5 due to the exposure of some of the ballot papers ahead of time.

On Dec. 7, voters in Ghana will head to the polls to elect a new president and 276 members of parliament.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Accra.
(XHTV)