afrol News, 7 December - Again, everything was going ahead orderly and peacefully as Ghanaians today turned out in large numbers to democratically elect a President and a new parliament. As voting in Ghana stopped at 5 pm today, observers reported a very strong turnout and no major incidents.

Ghanaians are largely expected to have given their incumbent President, John Agyekum Kufuor, a strong vote of confidence for a second and last four-year term. Among the three other presidential candidates, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stands the strongest chance of challenging President Kufuor.

Democratic institutions are now firmly based in Ghana, as the country holds its fourth successive multi-party elections since ex-President Jerry Rawlings of the NDC agreed to end military rule in 1992. Since his election in 2000, President Kufuor has strongly consolidated democracy.

His commission to investigate human rights abuses committed by the Rawlings military government has also contributed to demonstrate the value of a democratically minded government to the Ghanaian public. President Kufuor further has avoided the ethnic violence and chaos marking other English speaking countries in the region, such as Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and in French speaking Côte d'Ivoire.

This legacy of democracy, human rights, peace and stability is President Kufuor's strongest card in the polling that has just ended. While Ghana also has experienced a relatively strong economic growth due to this stability, Ghanaians at large have not noticed much economic progress. Poverty remains pervasive.

Candidate Atta Mills thus has tried to focus his campaign on healthcare, unemployment and agriculture, the three top priorities of Ghanaians according to surveys. The NDC candidate's campaign has however been overshadowed by ex-President Rawlings and his attempts to "help" Mr Atta Mills with strong attacks on the person of Mr Kufuor. Mr Atta Mills in many cases has appeared as a puppet of the now unpopular ex-President.

Another strong indicator of President Kufuor's re-election has been the very strong turnout of voters all over Ghana. Voters were reported to be queuing in long lines before the polling stations opened at 7 am. At closing time at 5 pm, there were still queues at several stations. Those in the queues were allowed to vote.

Votes are already being counted, and a result is expected to be published by Ghana's Electoral Commission already tomorrow. If one candidate has scored more than 50 percent of the votes, a winner may thus be declared. If not, there will be organised a second poll round between the two top candidates.

In the parliamentary election, which is run at the same time, Ghanaians are to elect 230 parliamentarians among the total of almost 1000 candidates. Also here, President Kufuor's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) stands the best chance of winning a majority, while the NDC is expected to become the second largest parliamentary group.

By staff writers

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories