Ghana poll fair, say observers

Tallying shows close presidential race may go to second round

ACCRA, Tuesday

International observers who monitored Ghana elections have hailed the process as fair and transparent as counting advances in a close presidential race that may go to a second round.

By today, Nana Akufo-Addo of New Patriotic Party (NPP) was leading with 49.7 per cent, ahead of opposition leader John Atta Mills with 47.4 per cent.

A run-off will be held on December 28 if neither candidate gets more than 50 percent of the votes.

A Nigerian journalist, Mr Taiwo Olu, who covered the elections in Accra said “it is not the process that is clean, it is the people who must be praised to have decided to be honest about everything. The President is democratic and is abiding by the rules, the people are themselves going by the rules. In other parts of the continent, the politicians decide and do not care what the people say.”

But for some Ghanaians, God might have played a role because of their prayers. The Christian Council of Ghana in October organised a national day of prayer attended by representatives of all political parties to pray for peaceful elections.

This was followed by several similar prayer meetings by individual churches throughout the country. The Muslims played their part as well.

Others, however, think it was the sheer determination of leaders of various political parties to ensure the elections were peaceful. There were also several peace marches before the polls.

The airwaves were also inundated by several peace songs by musicians.

Mr E. Gyimah-Boadi, the director of Ghana’s Centre for Democratic Development, said Ghana’s electoral system is designed to prevent fraud. Party agents, observers, media and the public are all encouraged to monitor the process at every step.

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, for example, deployed several observers across the country to provide situation reports on how the election was conducted.

Reporters of various media organisation were in polling stations with some local FM stations providing live reports.

Ghanaians voted on Sunday to elect a new President and 230 Members of Parliament.