The Electoral Commission (EC) has successfully gazetted the results of the just-ended referenda for the creation of six new regions in the country.
It would be recalled that on December 27, 2018, the EC, in line with the recommendations of the Justice Stephen Alan Brobbey Committee of Inquiry into the creation of six new regions, held referenda in the four existing regions -Western, Volta, Brong Ahafo and the Northern.
Following the overwhelming “Yes” votes during the referenda, the Oti, Savannah, North East, Western North, Ahafo and Bono East Regions are to be created.
Documents released by the EC and signed by its Chairperson, Jean Mensa showed that the gazetting of the officially declared results from the polls was done on January 2, 2019, about six days after the referenda.
The gazetted results of Western North showed that the “Yes” votes, which were in favour of the creation of the new region from the existing Western Region, were 388,235, while the “No” votes were 942.
For the controversial Oti Region, the “Yes” votes recorded officially were 319,296, with 2,878 “No” votes, while the Ahafo Region recorded 276,763 ‘Yes’ votes and 675 No votes.
The Bono East, which is also expected to be carved from the existing Brong Ahafo Region alongside Ahafo, had a total of 448,548 “Yes” votes and “No” votes of 1,384.
Up north, the yet to be established Savannah Region recorded a total of 206,350 “Yes” votes and 647 “No” votes while the North East Region had 205,121 “Yes” votes and “No” votes of 447.
By Melvin Tarlue, DGN
