Voting starts in Ghana run-off
2008-12-28 10:37
Accra - Ghanaians returned to the polls on Sunday for a presidential run-off vote in a race that has become a referendum on whether the country's stunning growth of the past eight years has trickled down to ordinary people.
Neither the ruling party nor the opposition secured enough votes on December 7 to win the presidential election outright in Ghana, one of the continent's few stable democracies.
Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party received 49.13% in the first round. Opposition candidate John Atta Mills campaigned on a platform of change, arguing that the country's growth has not been felt in people's wallets. He received 47.92%.
The two were among eight candidates seeking to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms, as required by law.
About 5 000 security personnel were deployed across the country ahead of the vote. National Security Coordinator Sam Amoo said the aim was to "forestall some of the unpleasant experiences" of the first vote.
Turnout was heavy at several polling stations in the capital, where there already were long lines when they opened at 07:00.
"We voted the first time and there was no winner and so we need to come and vote again and that is why I am here this morning," said Michael Nkansah, 52, a cook in Accra who declined to say whom he voted for. "We all need a peaceful election."
On Saturday, Nana Ohene Ntow, general secretary of the NPP, accused the rival party of hatching a plan to intimidate supporters of the NPP in opposition strongholds to prevent them from voting.
Meanwhile, Mills - the opposition presidential candidate - accused the NPP of planning to rig the election, alleging that thugs have been deployed to polling stations throughout the country.
During the December 7 vote, there were tensions between supporters of the two main parties, and isolated cases of violence at polling stations in the country's interior.
But observers with the US-based Carter Centre, founded by former President Jimmy Carter, said the vote was exemplary. The group, represented by a 58-member team, has returned to Ghana to monitor Sunday's run-off.
Ghana, a rare example of democracy in a region of totalitarian states, is flanked by Burkina Faso, whose president grabbed power in a coup two decades ago, and by Togo, ruled by the same family for the past 41 years.
- AP