No female has filed to contest in the 2023 District Level Elections (DLEs) in three out of the 15 Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper East Region, statistics from the Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed.
The three districts are Garu, Tempane and Nabdam.
Out of the 949 contestants in the District Assembly elections in the region, only 25 are females, while only 156 females out of the 1,936 are contesting in the Unit Committee elections across the region.
Mr William Obeng Adarkwa, the Upper East Regional Director of the Electoral Commission who revealed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Bolgatanga, expressed concern about the low participation of women in the district level elections.
He said all preparations humanly and materially including training of all election officers and mounting of platforms for candidates among others were on course to conducting a successful, free, transparent and fair election come December 19, 2023.
The Regional Director urged the public, particularly registered voters, to turn up at their various polling stations to vote to select competent leaders to drive the needed development in their communities.
“I will urge everybody who is a registered voter to take active part, come out of their homes and vote because it is about development and the local governance structures are the bedrock of developmental activities across the country and the Constitution recognizes that,” he added.
While admonishing all aspirants to be civil and avoid slanders in their campaigns, he warned political activists from displaying political colours when supporting any candidate as it was against the electoral laws of the country.
“Legally, this election is non-partisan and that is why even mounting of platform should be done under the supervision of an official from the Electoral Commission or an appointed official to the EC,” he emphasized.
