4 January 2009
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in Ghana's presidential election, Professor John Atta Mills, has won the round-off by a narrow margin.
Mills won the elections after final results from Tain constituency in the Brog-Ahafo region were released yesterday. The BBC reported that electoral officials in Tain had declared that Mills won 19,566 votes, with 2,035 votes cast for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)'s Nana Akufo-Addo.
The Electoral Commission (EC) announced that Mills had won 50.23 percent-or 4,521,032-of the total votes cast as against 49.77 percent-or 4,480,446 votes-won by Akufo-Addo.
"On the basis of the official results given", the commission's head, Kwado Afari-Gyan, said in Accra, "it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the president-elect of the Republic of Ghana".
The country had been in suspense, awaiting the outcome of the elections held last Friday in Tain constituency, which the ruling party attempted to stop. The NPP had sought an injunction to prevent the polls in Tain, claiming that conditions in the remote rural constituency were not conducive to a free and fair election.
According to reports, the ruling party also sought a court order restraining the EC from announcing a winner until claims of electoral fraud during the December 28 presidential runoff are investigated and thoroughly thrashed.
Both parties have complained of irregularities in their respective strongholds. While the NPP complained of alleged intimidation during voting in the Volta region, the NDC claimed that there had been vote-rigging in the Ashanti area.
While declaring the results however, the Afri-Gyan said his commission had considered the allegations made by both parties, but "did not find the evidence provided sufficient to invalidate the result".
He added that the final results were reached by adding the votes garnered by each candidate in Tain to results from the other 229 constituencies that cast their second-round votes on December 28. "Without a doubt the road today has been long and hard work", Afari-Gyan said.
In the first round of voting on December 7, the NDC won in the area which, according to The New Ghanaian, was home to Asiedu Nketsia, the General Secretary of the opposition party. Tain became the constituency to decide the next president of Ghana after having failed to vote in the December 28 run-off elections because of the absence of voting materials in the area.
Although the NPP had called on its supporters to boycott the elections, a development that only served to shore up the performance of the NDC, many had gone out to vote. Some Ghanaian media also reported that prominent people had appealed to the NPP candidate to concede in the interest of the nation. The NPP, they reportedly pleaded, should not stall the transition process, thereby denting the image and credibility of Ghana's democratic process. Akufo-Addo however dismissed such calls. The Associated Press reported on Friday that after meeting with his party leaders in Accra, Akufo-Addo had told his supporters that he was not ready to give up his fight for the presidency.
On Friday, outgoing President John Kufuor had asked both parties to yield to the "authority of the Electoral Commissioner when he declares the results".
"I entreat the general public to remain calm until the result of the election is declared by the Electoral Commission to facilitate the transfer of power from this government to the next on 7th January as mandated by the nation's constitution", he said in a statement.
Kufuor spoke amidst fears that there could election-related violence in the country seen as a model democracy in Africa. Violence broke in Kenya after an election whose results had similar narrow margins in 2007.
Peter Pham, an Africa expert at James Madison University in Virginia, told AP that the election "is the first case in Africa I can think of where a country has seen two successive transfers of power from democratically elected incumbents to democratically elected successors".
Pham also said former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan had been working quietly behind the scenes to calm tensions in the country.
This was the third time Mills, who was said to have nearly lost the confidence of his party, was contesting the country's presidency. The NDC's overwhelmingly nomination of the former tax law teacher again ahead of three other contenders has, however, been vindicated.
Mills, who narrowly lost the first round vote served as vice-president to Jerry Rawlings between 1997 and January 2001. Speaking to supporters shortly after being declared president-elect, Mills, promised to be a leader for the whole country.
"I assure Ghanaians that I will be president for all", AP reported Mills telling more than 1,000 supporters outside his campaign headquarters in Accra, adding: "The time has come to work together to build a better Ghana". He also congratulated "all other contestants, especially Nana Akufo-Addo, for giving us a good fight".
An NDC member, Sekou Nkrumah, the youngest son of Ghana 's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, told the French news agency, AFP, that: "Victory for the opposition party is a victory for democracy. After eight years in the wilderness, the NDC is back to build a better Ghana".
Reuters news agency reported that while speaking to reporters yesterday, the NPP candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, had said: "I acknowledge the electoral commissioner's declaration and congratulate Professor Mills". According to the BBC however an official of the NPP said his party was going to challenge the result in court.
While the country's streets are thronged by jubilant supporters of the president-elect, analysts believe that Atta Mills' biggest challenge as he assumes Ghana's presidency is ensuring economic growth. According to AP, Ghana's economy has been growing by more than 6 percent a year, while investment is up 20-fold over the last decade, and newly discovered oil, expected to start generating revenue in 2010, is projected to bring in between $2 and $3 billion a year.
Professor John Evans Atta Milss is expected to be sworn in on January 7, although President Kufuor will vacate office on January 5. The Chief Justice will act as President until then.
Kufuor came to power 2000 and his eight years in office have seen Ghana's economy grow into one of the most attractive investment destinations in the region, Reuters reported, although critics say his administration has failed to tackle widespread corruption, including smuggling of cocaine and other drugs in which administration officials have been implicated.
Many Ghanaians have expressed their happiness that the long drawn battle for the country's presidency, which had wearied all parties that participated in it, is over.
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