Incidents mar run-off
Turnout was low
Religious bodies appeal for support for Bawku victims
Incidents mar run-off
The Daily Graphic says information received from Accra, Kumasi and Tamale, regional capitals of the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Northern Regions respectively indicate a number of incidents occurred during Thursday's presidential run-off in the country.
Security forces are reported to have acted quickly to restore law and order for voting to continue.
Voting at a polling center in the Ablekuma North Constituency in the Greater Accra Region was temporarily disrupted when a mob allegedly rushed in while voting was in process early in the morning and destroyed the electoral register and reference list.
The presiding officer, Denimp Fortey, said he called in security men who drove away the mob and restored order after which new materials were supplied for the exercise to continue.
The NPP Constituency office which is close to the area was allegedly attacked at about 6.30 a.m. by armed men and the party's Member of Parliamentary for the area, Mr Kwamena Bartels suffered a cut on his chest and a bruised back from a gun butt inflicted by the armed men.
Supporters of the NDC and NPP also clashed at Kaladan Sports Stadium polling station in Tamale leading to injuries and the smashing of the windscreen of a Nissan Patrol vehicle being used by the NDC supporters while a drug store belonging to an NDC sympathizer was vandalized.
Mr David Walenkaki, the Northern Regional Commander of the Police, warned that the security men would deal with anyone who attempted to disturb the peace in the region.
At Kumasi, a school truck that was distributing electoral materials at the various polling stations was reportedly attacked by some cutlass-wielding men at about 1 a.m. on suspicion of conveying thumb-printed ballot papers in favour of the NDC Presidential candidate, Prof. J.E.A. Mills.
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Turnout was low
The Graphic states that voting in the early hours of Thursday's presidential run-off pitting Prof. J.E.A. Mills of the NDC against Mr J.A. Kufuor of the NPP was generally less enthusiastic than what obtained in the first polls on December 7.
"A comparison between this election and the previous one indicated that fewer numbers of people actually turned out to vote as at mid-day Thursday, thus sharply contrasting what was obtained at the same period on December 7," the paper said.
It reports a number of polling stations, particularly in the Greater Accra Region, where it said voting commenced promptly at 7.00 a.m.
In a related story, the Graphic indicates that President Jerry John Rawlings was among early voters who cast their ballot at a polling station near the Castle.
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Religious bodies appeal for support for Bawku victims
The Free Press in a story appearing on its third page says the Forum of Religious Bodies (FORB), have appealed to civil society groups, government agents and all concerned citizens to immediately rush to the aid of the people of Bawku in the Upper East Region in the aftermath of the recent political violence there.
FORB, made up of the Catholic Secretariat, Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Pentecostal Council, the Council of Independent Churches, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission and the Federation of Muslim Mission, said the extent of human and property destruction in Bawku called for an urgent government, NGO's and individual intervention.
The religious leaders urged chiefs and other opinion leaders for purposes of national unity, sanity and the respect for chieftaincy institution to desist from overly and covertly affiliating with political parties.
FORB also reminded the public, that it would take more than the Electoral Commission, security agencies and election observers to ensure transparent, free and fair elections with an outcome that would express the wishes of the people, stressing that "it is a collective and civic responsibility."
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