The Electoral Commission (EC) has decried the low turn-out which has characterized the Akyem Abuakwa North bye-election.

Voting begun in some polling stations at 7:00 a.m. but JOYNEWS report points to a low turn-out in the Constituency.

The exercise is expected to witness about 40,000 people casting their vote in 69 polling stations but only 83 people have voted so far.

The Akyem Abuakwa North seat became vacant following the murder of the Member of Parliament (MP), J. B. Danquah Adu on February 9 at his Shiashie residence.

Leadership of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) decided not to file a candidate for the bye-election arguing it does not want to hurt the memory of the deceased.

Only three political parties are contesting the bye-election. They are the New Patriotic Party, the Ghana Freedom Party and the United Front Party.

JOYNEWS’ Eastern Regional Correspondent, Kofi Siaw reports happenings in the Constituency demonstrates people have lack of interest in the bye-election.

According to him, in the Kukurantumi polling station, a total of 200 voters are expected to cast their vote but throughout morning only 16 people have so far voted.

He also said in the Tafo Presby Primary polling station out of 673 voters, about 19 people have voted.

The other place is MA daycare center, which has a voter population of 931 but only 48 people have voted since morning.

Presiding officer, Joseph Akugre in an interview with Joy News correspondent Kofi Siaw said they have not encountered any problems with the process.

“As you can see our security man is at post and we have actually not encountered any problem at all”, he said.

He attributed the low turnout to “most people will go do other things before they come to vote. But the day has not ended,” he said.

He was hopeful that more people may turn up and vote before polls close.

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