240 file nomination to contest polls in Ashanti

A total of 240 candidates have filed their nomination to contest the 47 parliamentary seats in the Ashanti Region in the December 07 polls.

Mr. Serebour Quaicoe, the Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), who announced this said 35 of them were females and the remaining 205, males.

He indicated that 19 people were in the parliamentary race as independent candidates.

He broke the news at the opening of a three-day data journalism training workshop held in Kumasi under what was termed “Amplifying voices through new digital platforms”.

It was organized by Penplusbytes, an information and communication technology (ICT) firm with support from the United States (US) Embassy in Accra and African Election Project - an NGO.

The programme, which brought together selected journalists in the northern sector, sought to assist them to improve their coverage of the polls and efficient handling of figures.

Mr. Quaicoe reiterated the determination of the Commission to ensure the conduct of clean and credible polls, saying, it had put in place the necessary measures to make the electoral processes transparent.

He stated that each polling station would be equipped with two biometric voting devices and a projector fixed at the various collation centres to monitor results as they were being collated.

Barima Offe Okogyeasuo, Omanhene of Kokofu, called for more training programmes for journalists to help them to avoid doing anything unethical.

The media, he noted, had critical role to play to make the coming polls peaceful.