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Kufuor gets second term
Ghanaian President,
John Kufuor, has secured a second four-year term, following his victory in that
country’s parliamentary and general elections whose results were
announced yesterday.
Kufuor, nicknamed
the "gentle giant", won 52.75 per cent of the votes in Tuesday's
presidential poll, leading to wild jubilation on the streets by supporters in
the capital, Accra.
The
president’s main rival and opposition leader, Professor John Atta Mills,
gained 44.32 per cent of the polled ballots.
The election, which
attracted a high turnout of 83.2 per cent, was free and fair except for the
opposition which alleged irregularities. Although results from five districts
were still expected, it would not affect the overall results, according to the
election commission chairman, Kwadwo Afari-Djan, who has already declared
Kufuor the winner.
"I declare
President Kufuor new president of the Ghana Republic," he said, while
announcing the election results in which Kufuor’s New Patriotic Party
(NPP) also gained a majority in
the parliament, with 129 out of 230 seats that were contested.
While the official
presidential election result gave Kufuor and Mills a combined percentage score
of 97.07, the other two candidates: Edward Mahama, candidate of the Grand
Coalition of Opposition Parties, including the Peoples National Convention
(PNC) and George Aggudey of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) scored 1.9 per
cent and 1 per cent respectively.
In the parliamentary
election, NDC secured 88 seats, CPP four seats and PNC three while an
independent candidate won one. Five seats were yet to be declared as at press
time.
Reports monitored
from Accra said thousands of people trooped to the streets
to celebrate Kufuor's re-election,
wearing the traditional red, white and blue colours of his party and shouting
his name as they danced along. The president's press secretary, Kwabena
Agyepong, told the BBC that he had expected a bigger margin of victory and that Kufuor would use his second term to improve the living standards of the people.
"We need to work much harder to
bring the fruits of economic progress to the people of Ghana," he said. In
the meantime, President Olusegun Obasanjo, has congratulated the Ghanaian
president over his election.
In a letter dated
December 10, 2004 and addressed to Kufuor, Obasanjo expressed pleasure at his
victory, saying it indicated Ghana’s faith in his leadership and efforts
to bring socio-economic progress to the country.
“By this
clear victory, Ghanaians have not only given you a fresh mandate to continue
with the sound policies that have brought much socio-economic progress to the
country but also reassured you of their faith in your leadership.
I therefore wish
God’s guidance as you face with vision and vigour the challenges of
lifting the nation up to greater heights.”
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