Ghana's presidential election, hailed as a model for African democracy, will go to a runoff in late December after the ruling party's candidate narrowly failed to reach the 50 per cent mark, election officials announced Wednesday, according to dpa. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, chairman of the election commission, said a runoff vote would be held December 28, pitting Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) against John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Akufo-Addo won 49.1 per cent of Sunday's vote, to 47.9 per cent for Mills, the election commission said. Six other candidates drew in far lower vote tallies, but still enough to prevent either candidate from winning a decisive outcome. The electoral commission did not announce results of the simultaneous parliamentary elections, but preliminary results show the NDC has won at least 115 seats in the 230-seat parliament. The NPP thus looks likely to lose its significant parliamentary majority. Atta Mills and Akufo-Addoe are vying to replace John Kufuor, who must step down in January after serving two terms. Kufuor has revived the Ghanaian economy by bringing pro-market reforms and political stability. Economic growth has been strong, and the NPP campaigned on a platform of continuity. However, despite the growth and the fact that Ghana is the second- largest cocoa grower in the world and Africa's second-biggest producer of gold, there is still widespread poverty among ordinary Ghanians. The NDC said this showed that new leadership was required. Both main parties also promised good governance when it comes to revenue from newly discovered oil, due to come onstream in late 2010. Ghana's National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) expects 120,000 barrels per day initially, with that figure rising to 250,000 barrels a day within two years. Some were worried that Sunday's simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections could spark the kind of violence witnessed in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria earlier this year. However, despite the NDC alleging that the NPP was planning to rig the elections, the vote remained peaceful. The European Union's election monitoring team Tuesday said that Ghana's elections were open, transparent and competitive. "Tthe 2008 elections ... helped to strengthen the democratic institutions of Ghana, and Ghana's democratic credentials in the region, Africa and the world at large," EU Chief Observer Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement. "The competitive campaign and the overall peaceful environment are a tribute to Ghanaian democracy," he added.
