Ghanaians Re-Elect President Kufuor
GHANAIAN President, John Kufuor has secured a second four-year term in office, the chairman of the country's Election Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Djan has declared.
Mr Kufuor won 52.75 per cent of the vote in Tuesday's presidential poll. His outright majority eliminates the need for a second round.
His main rival, opposition leader John Atta Mills, gained 44.32 per cent of the vote.
Observers have praised the conduct of the election, which attracted a high turnout rate of 83.2 per cent.
Basking in the euphoria of his victory, Kufuor yesterday accepted his re-election as leader of Ghana, congratulating citizens on the largely peaceful balloting and calling the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence a "beacon of democracy."
"I accept the endorsement of the people of Ghana with thanks and humility and I thank God for being with me and the whole nation of Ghana," Kufuor said in an acceptance speech broadcast on state radio.
Also President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday congratulated Kufuor. He said: "By this victory, Ghanaians have not only given you a fresh mandate to continue the sound policies that brought much socio-economic progress to the country but also assured you of their faith in your leadership".
Results from five districts are still expected, but they will not change the overall outcome, Kwadwo Afari-Djan said.
"I declare President Kufuor new president of the Ghana republic," he said.
Kufuor defeated Mills four years ago, in an election that marked the country's first peaceful and democratic transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1957.
The presidential election is the fourth since Ghana became a multi-party state in 1992.
Four candidates contested the presidency and 230 parliamentary seats were up for grabs.
Edward Mahama, candidate of the Grand Coalition of opposition parties, polled 1.9 percent and George Aggudey, of the Convention People's Party founded by Ghana's first leader Kwame Nkrumah, got just 1 percent of the ballots cast.
The election was praised for being well-run, calm and orderly.
Several ruling party ministers are thought to have lost their seats in the parliamentary poll.
Kufuor's supporters voted for stability, even though daily costs such as school fees, petrol prices and consumer goods are making their lives difficult.
The president and his New Patriotic Party drastically reduced inflation and borrowing costs, and assured people during the campaign that prices and wages would improve.
Mills focused on the major issue of poverty.
He assured poor people, who make up 40 percent of the country's 20 million population that under his rule they would see more money in their pockets.
But report says it appears that his tactics have failed to undermine Kufuor's economic reforms.
The majority of people trust him, our reporter says, although in the longer term they will want to see some personal gain in return.
Kufuor, whose 2000 election victory marked Ghana's first-ever democratic transfer of power, took 53 per cent of the west African nation's vote Tuesday, electoral officials announced late Thursday.
A few small scuffles aside, the vote came off without major incident and West African election observers certified it as "transparent and in good order."
"With a single mind, the nation has concluded a vigorously contested presidential and parliamentary election, which despite some unfortunate incidents in a few areas has been very free and fair and peaceful throughout the country," said Kufuor.
Turnout was a staggering 83.2 per cent among roughly 10 million eligible voters in a nation that prides itself on leading the way for a new generation of maturing African democracies.
"The nation has demonstrated its commitment to democratic governance, and furthermore it has proven itself to the whole world as mature and united to be the beacon of democracy," said Kufuor.
Kufuor told Ghanaians he hoped to spark greater economic growth and vowed to fight corruption with "all weapons" during his next four-year term. His inauguration is planned for Jan. 7.
Kufuor offered thanks to his strongest challenger, John Atta Mills, who took 44 per cent of the ballot.
"Henceforth, it is my hope and desire that we all can work together to build our nation," said Kufuor - a doe-eyed, Oxford-trained lawyer Ghanaians call the "Gentle Giant."
Kufuor rode high on his popularity for maintaining peace and democratic gains and for nudging along the economy of the world's No. 2 cocoa producer and leading gold producer.
He defeated Mills in 2000 in a race that marked the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana, a former British colony that in 1957 became the first holding in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence.
Mills had been the chosen candidate of Jerry Rawlings, a charismatic former flight lieutenant who seized power in a 1981 coup, capping over a decade of rule by military big men who drove Ghana's economy into the ground.
Rawlings won fair elections in 1992 and 1996, beating Kufuor in the latter race.
Kufuor, who has been active in peace negotiations for nearby Liberia and Ivory Coast, urged leaders in a region where coups are still common to advance democratic practices in their own nations.
"My advice to my fellow leaders in Africa, especially in our subregion, is that we should organize ourselves constitutionally so that all the people are given voice as to how they're governed," he told reporters after the address.
