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The Ashanti regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has commenced constituency elections in four of the 47 constituencies, with majority of the incumbents retaining their seats. The lections were held in Manhyia South, Asawase, Suame and Kwabre East on Saturday and yesterday respectively as the party rolls out its timetable to cover the all 47 constituencies by the end of the month. The constituency elections are a prelude to the regional elections scheduled for October this year. In the Manhyia South Constituency, for instance, all the incumbent constituency executive members retained their positions, except for the Youth Organiser portfolio which was won by Abass Haruna, a private businessman. He grabbed more than half (81 votes) of the ballot cast to beat his main challenger, Alhaji Mustapha, in the 30-minute election. The story was different in the three other constituencies, especially Asawase, where there were lots of cajoling and horse-trading even on the day of elections to garner votes. The 12-hour exercise, graced by the MP for the area, Alhaji Muntakar Mohammed, nearly became chaotic as contestants insisted on being given the opportunity to market themselves minutes before votes were cast. It took the intervention of party bigwigs, including the regional organiser, Alhaji Saani, and the MP to calm tempers for all to agree on the modalities for the elections. The favourite, a 46-year-old Chairman of the Ghana National Cargo Transport Association, Alhaji Abubakari Musa, polled 325 votes out of 618 votes cast to win the chairmanship which became vacant following the death of the incumbent, Ahmed Abubakari. The winner, who is also the head of the Articulators Owners Association, defeated his two main challengers, Musa Kalifa Issa, who had 152 votes, and Mohammed Muntala Abukari, 84 votes. The vice-chairman position was easily won by a well-known Ashanti Regional-Based car dealer, Mustapha Mohammed Tahiru, who won 354 votes ahead of Omari Farrouk, 75 votes, and Nura Yakubu, 163 votes. A former employee of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and currently an insurance broker, Stephen C. T. Gyan Jnr, was elected the new Constituency Secretary with 268 votes; his deputy is Abubakar Siddick Ibrahim, the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) Co-ordinator, who won 427 of the votes cast, while the Regional National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) Co-ordinator, B. A. Mohammed is the new Organiser, having had 335 votes. The rest are: Deputy Organiser, Moro Mumuni (425 votes); Treasurer; Alhaji Anyars Abdellah retained his position (Deputy treasurer) with 317 votes; Mustapha Mohammed (329 votes); Women�s Organiser, Hadjia Mahmoud Hadjara, 100 votes; Youth Organiser, Alhaji Yusif Amuda, 104; and Propaganda Secretary, Yakubu Tony Aidoo, a Kumasi-based scrap dealer, 381. Earlier, at Dekyemso, a suburb of Kumasi in Manhyia South, during the election, the Chief Executive Officer of the KMA, Kojo Bonsu, kicked against vile propaganda within the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), especially in the Ashanti Region, as the region kick-started its constituency elections last Saturday. He said the jostling and contemptible campaigns would only give the party more work to do during the post-election period because executives would now have to do more damage controls.