Accra — The second and decisive round of voting in Ghana's presidential election got off to a chequered start in the capital, Accra, where there were reports of intimidation and violence at some polling stations. Elsewhere in the country voting was sluggish, but generally calm with fewer incidents of irregularities or disorder reported.
One recently-elected opposition member of parliament in Accra, Kwamena Bartels, of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said he was beaten and stabbed, he thought by rival political supporters. Bartels said two of his NPP assistants were shot, one badly injured with his hand shattered by a bullet, the other wounded in the foot. He said they had all been treated at Accra's main hospital at Korle Bu.
The Electoral Commission, which is organizing the poll in Ghana, has not commented on these allegations.
The NPP also complained that its party agents were chased out of polling stations in some instances and prevented from entering others in different parts of the country.
There have been no similar accusations from the National Democratic Congress (NDC, the governing party) which is also fielding a candidate in today's presidential run off.
A local radio station in Accra, with a network of correspondents throughout the country, heard several reports of armed men, some in military fatigues and calling themselves commandoes, causing mayhem at a number of polling stations in the capital.
One report spoke of an armed group tearing up ballot papers as well as the registered voters' list, knocking over the ballot boxes and destroying all other electoral material needed for the election before they left. Other information spoke of ballot boxes being carried off by unidentified individuals.
There have also been several reports of foreigners, armed with valid voting cards, trying to vote and Ghanaians attempting to cast more than one ballot. In one case two prospective voters, said to be from Mali, were accused of trying to vote. But a friend of theirs told a radio host he could vouch that they were Ghanaians and Muslims with whom he worshipped frequently.
Most electoral officials and journalists reported a slow trickle of voters countrywide throughout the day. It was unclear whether voters were put off by fear or whether apathy and election fatigue played a part in their reluctance to cast their ballots.
Ghanaians are choosing a new president to replace Jerry Rawlings, the elected leader of the past eight years who first seized power in a coup d' etat in 1979 and again two years later. The Ghanaian constitution bars Rawlings from standing for a third four-year term.
The main opposition leader, John Agyekum Kufuor of the NPP gained forty eight percent of the vote in round one of the presidential election on 7 December and narrowly missed winning. The seven presidential contenders who stood then needed a clear majority of fifty percent, plus one vote, to win the first round outright.
In Thursday's poll, Kufuor faced the incumbent vice president of Ghana, John Atta Mills, the candidate of Rawlings' NDC party, in the run off. Mills polled forty four percent in round one.
Wearing a wide smile and a white batakari, a traditional northern Ghanaian smock, and accompanied by his wife Aba Theresa, Kufuor voted at 09h45 at his polling station, a rudimentary makeshift operation, by the side of the road, close to his home in Accra.
After voting, Kufuor confidently faced the cameras and addressed reporters. "My chances are good," he said. "I expect to win today and make history in Ghana. This time it's first past the post and I expect to win by a landslide".
But the opposition contender expressed his concern and distress at the reports of violence and what he called harassment of NPP officials on polling day. "Naturally I feel uncomfortable. All caring citizens of Ghana should be concerned. I do not see any cause for any soldier or thug or person in a balaclava, a hooded person, coming to molest anybody here."
"We have come only to express ourselves through our votes. We are entitled as free citizens of a country that is supposed to be free," Kufuor continued. "And I want to call on the government to put a stop to this (violence) instantly. This has been the road to a lot of the destabilization that is taking place in Africa. We don't want Ghana to follow in this trail".
The NPP candidate said he hoped that Ghanaians would vote, 'despite manipulation, intimidation and corruption that seem so rife in this election'. In recent weeks, both the NDC and the NPP have accused their rivals of trying to intimidate and scare off voters.
Asked what would be his first priority were he elected Ghana's next president, the NPP leader gave a prompt response. "I assure you I will secure Ghana. We will put an end to disorderly behaviour."
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Facing the same questions after he voted later at the University of Ghana at Legon, surrounded by students and a vigilant security detail, the vice president and NDC presidential candidate, John Atta Mills, would not be drawn on reports of violence at some polling stations, claiming he had not been informed.
"I haven't been monitoring and I also do not want to inflame passions. I do not want to cry wolf if there is no wolf", he said. "I believe we have enough people at these polling stations to ensure that there is peace".
But the vice president made this appeal. "Ghana is more important than either of us (Kufuor and Mills) and we must all ensure that elections are peacefully conducted. We should avoid any such cases of provocation, harassment and intimidation".
Unlike his rival Kufuor, Mills did not predict his own victory in this second round run off, only indicating that he "will accept the results so long as the elections are free, fair, peaceful and transparent. "One must be a loser, one must be a winner". Mills concluded: "If you engage in a contest, you must be prepared to accept the results so long as the rules are complied with".
