Opposition leader, John Atta Mills, is waving the victory flag following Ghana’s presidential vote Dec. 28.
Opposition leader, John Atta Mills, is waving the victory flag following Ghana’s presidential vote Dec. 28.
Election officials confirmed he was leading the race. Official results are expected shortly.
Atta Mills was said to have 52.1 percent of counted ballots–or 4,065,883 votes–in the runoff vote. The governing party’s candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, reportedly received 47.9 percent of counted votes–or 3,737,655.
Tension has been high in the capital. On Dec. 29, the police fired shots into the air to disperse hundreds of Mills’ supporters who besieged the electoral commission in Accra after it announced provisional results showing their candidate was ahead.
The protesters chanted “we want change” and demanded that the commission immediately declare Mills the winner of the vote.
A victory for Mills and the NDC would end eight years of NPP rule under Kufuor, who is stepping down after serving two consecutive terms, the constitutional limit in the West African state, which has become a favorite with foreign investors.
The new president takes over at a time when economic growth is expected to slow as a result of the global downturn.
He will have to deal with a growing budget and current-account deficit, high inflation and unemployment, and falling remittance and aid levels, they say.
The presidential rivals, Mills and Akufo-Addo, are both foreign-trained lawyers and both are 64.
They have vowed to maintain the stability and growth that have made the former British Gold Coast colony a magnet for investment. Special to the NNPA from GIN
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