EC platform ends in confusion.

Lagos-Town (W/R), Aug 26, GNA-Platform mounted by the Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday for the five contestants in the district level elections at Lagos-Town, suburb of Takoradi, ended in confusion.

Supporters of the incumbent assembly member on one hand and those of two contestants traded insults, accusations and counter accusations for several minutes, forcing proceedings to end abruptly.

All the five contesting the West Tanokrom Electoral Area seat were allotted 10 minutes each to present their manifestoes and the confusion began during question time.

It all started when one Chris Larbi Boateng asked Mr Ransford Odame Fening, one of the contestants, to recite the National Pledge, a question the Returning Officer, Mr Ekow Dadzie, over-ruled and this generated a heated argument.

Before this could die down another resident, Mr Joseph Quartey, mounted the platform and alleged that the incumbent assemblyman, Mr Samuel Kwesi Anderson, sold a parcel of land earmarked for a market for the community to a private developer who had built stores on it. But before Mr Quartey could end his allegations, supporters of Mr. Anderson on one hand and supporters of Mr Fening and Mr. Emmanuel Baidoo-Wilson launched verbal attacks on each other, almost resulting in fisticuffs. No one was injured.

In the midst of the confusion, one of the two women contestants, Madam Agnes Amoah, announced her withdrawal from the race.

Later Mr Dadzie described the incident to the Ghana News Agency as "very unfortunate" and said security personnel were not invited to the function because the "EC did not want people to feel intimidated but to feel free to express their views".

He had told the people to comport themselves and advised them to avoid abusive language and to restrict their questions to the manifestoes of the aspiring candidates.