Clashes, Alleged Harassment Mar Vote in Ghana

Sporadic clashes and accusations of intimidation marred voting Thursday in this West African nation, where armed soldiers kept watch in a runoff election to choose a successor to longtime President Jerry J. Rawlings.

Protesters stormed a polling station in a residential area of Accra shortly after voting started, smashing the ballot box and tearing up the voter list, security officials said. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Details were sketchy, but witnesses said gunshots were fired near another polling station in the same neighborhood during a scuffle between soldiers and opposition officials. Two people were injured, an opposition lawmaker said on state-run radio.

Opposition observers said they had been harassed by government supporters, who prevented them from monitoring voting at some stations in Accra, the capital, in the nearby port city of Tema and in the eastern Volta region.

The runoff pits Rawlings’ chosen successor, Vice President John Atta Mills of the ruling National Democratic Congress, against New Patriotic Party leader John Agyekum Kufuor. Neither received the 50% required for an outright win in the first round Dec. 7.