The President of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr Ishmael Norman, has described the Akwatia by-election as a validation exercise for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Read also: Livestream: Akwatia by-election underway

According to him, "If he (NDC's candidate) doesn't win, then we will all be very surprised. It is also a validation exercise for the NDC to see whether the programmes that they have launched, the people are actually in support of it," he said on JoyNews while monitoring the election.

"If NPP wins, then NDC has to sit up; it will mean that people are not in support of the programmes of the NDC, but so far, NDC has not done anything to make people reject it, and so for me, this validation has to happen to give more confidence to the government," he noted.

Read also: Akwatia By-Election: I am very satisfied with the performance of my men – IGP

More than 50,000 registered voters in the Akwatia constituency are expected to take part in the poll to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) to replace the late Ernest Kumi, who passed away after a short illness.

As of the time of this report, the by-election had witnessed only minor confrontations, posing little risk to the peaceful conduct of the exercise.