Ghana presidential race heads to runoff vote

ACCRA, Ghana -- Ghana's presidential contest heads to a runoff vote today, a race that has become a referendum on whether the West African country's stunning growth of the past eight years has trickled down to ordinary people.

Neither the ruling party nor the opposition secured enough votes Dec. 7 to win the presidential election outright in Ghana, one of the continent's few stable democracies. On the eve of the vote, the two parties traded accusations of possible rigging.

Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party received 49.13 percent in the first round. Opposition candidate John Atta Mills campaigned on a platform of change, arguing that the country's growth has not been felt in people's wallets. He received 47.92 percent.

The two were among eight candidates seeking to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms, as required by law.

On Saturday, Nana Ohene Ntow, general secretary of the NPP, accused the rival party of hatching a plan to intimidate supporters of the NPP in opposition strongholds to prevent them from voting.

Meanwhile, Mills -- the opposition presidential candidate -- accused the NPP of planning to rig the election, alleging that thugs have been deployed to polling stations throughout the country.

During the Dec. 7 vote, there were tensions between supporters of the two main parties, and isolated cases of violence at polling stations in the country's interior.

But observers with the U.S.-based Carter Center, founded by former president Jimmy Carter, said the vote was exemplary. The group, represented by a 58-member team, has returned to Ghana to monitor Sunday's runoff.

About 5,000 security personnel have been deployed across the country before the vote. National Security Coordinator Sam Amoo said the aim was to "forestall some of the unpleasant experiences" of the first vote.

Ghana, a rare example of democracy in a region of totalitarian states, is flanked by Burkina Faso, whose president grabbed power in a coup two decades ago, and by Togo, ruled by the same family for the past 41 years.

Unlike its neighbors, whose rulers came to power in coups and never ceded control, Ghana suffered back-to-back coups in the 1970s and 1980s but then took a turn toward democracy. After ruling for 11 years, strongman Jerry Rawlings organized elections. He won two terms, then surprised the world by ceding power when his party's candidate lost to Kufuor in the 2000 vote.

Ghana's foreign investment has grown more than 2,000 percent and exports have more than doubled since the ruling party took office eight years ago.

Yet many say there is little to show for all the statistics indicating success. Ghana remains one of the world's poorest countries. One in 10 adults is unemployed and 40 percent of the population cannot read or write. The average citizen earns $3.80 a day and is dead at 59.