Election monitors in Ghana are investigating claims of fraud as votes in the closely-fought presidential run-off poll continue to be counted. Supporters of Nana Akufo-Addo, of the governing party, and the opposition's John Atta Mills claim the other side committed vote fraud and intimidation. Mr Akufo-Addo narrowly beat his rival in the first round on 7 December but not by enough to avoid the run-off. Both men hope to succeed President John Kufuor, who has served two terms.

INEC chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu would be glad to hear this news that election fraud could happen in Ghana, an election that has been rated fair by international communities. Can elections be free of fraud? The case of Nigerian elections is worse than fraud, because most times there are no elections but selections. Anyway, Iwu is a product of fraud and it really manifested in 2007 polls across Nigeria. Ghana is still far better!

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Accusation of voter fraud is not enough to diminish the success in Ghana. I am jealous!!!

Even in US, Republicans accused Democrats of using ACORN to register ficticous names to vote. While Democrats accused Republicans of attempted Voter supression.

In Britain Labour has been accused of voting fraud in Birmingham in recent times.

So its not new.

On the Nigerian side, elections can only be free and fair if we change our attitude. Putting the blame squarely on Iwu is just an over simplification of the matter. It is a shame on every Nigerian that we can't vote.

@poster
typical nigerian!your own country is going up in flames at the age of almost 50 and you half a half dead president who was blantantly fraudulently shoved down your throats including virtually 99.9% fo all political appointees,governors e.t.c and you r here jumping up about electoral fraud in ghana which by the way is minuscule compared to nigeria's

big lie

Ghana’s Mills Heads for Victory in Presidency Runoff (Update2)
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By Emily Bowers

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- John Atta Mills, Ghana’s former vice president, headed for victory in the west African nation’s presidential runoff election that will determine who gets to spend the revenue from recent oil discoveries.

Mills, head of the National Democratic Congress, had 4.2 million votes, or 51.1 percent of the vote, from 211 of 230 constituencies, according to results published on the Web site of Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station. Nana Akufo-Addo, candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party candidate, polled 4.03 million votes, or 48.9 percent, Joy reported, citing figures it said were collated at polling stations.

“The results are as close as they were in the first round,” Kojo Asante, a researcher with the Accra-based Center for Democratic Development, said in a telephone interview. The Electoral Commission of Ghana may have to delay the release of the final results, because the outcome in some constituencies may be contested, he added.

The winner of the poll will take control of the world’s second-biggest cocoa grower and Africa’s No. 2 gold producer, as well as have oversight of newly discovered oil reserves, which U.K. explorer Tullow Oil Plc expects to begin extracting by 2010.

Joy Radio projected Mills would win by about 68,430 votes. The Electoral Commission’s Web site said results from the runoff would be posted “shortly.”

Pro-Business Policies

Mills, 62, a university professor, has pledged to cut poverty and help consumers cope with higher fuel and food prices, while Akufo-Addo, also 62, promised to continue the pro- business policies of outgoing President John Kufuor. Mills won 48 percent support in the initial vote on Dec. 7 to Akufo-Addo’s 49 percent.

In legislative elections that coincided with the first- round presidential vote, Mill’s NDC won 114 seats to the then- ruling NPP’s 107. Seven seats went to smaller parties and independent candidates, while two seats are disputed.

“We haven’t had the evidence to support any systematic irregularities or violence that could throw the result in doubt,” said Asante, whose organization is helping monitor the polls.

NPP polling agents were unable to monitor the vote in some areas due to intimidation and the party is deciding whether to contest those results, spokesman Arthur Kennedy said.

“We are still examining our options,” he said in a telephone interview. “When we look at some of them that are still outstanding we are cautiously optimistic we can get a narrow victory,” he said of the outstanding poll results.

Arrests

Police arrested an unspecified number of people who tried to steal ballot boxes yesterday, said Kwesi Ofori, deputy superintendent of the Ghana Police Service.

“There were no grave issues” that threatened the election’s credibility, he said.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence from its colonial ruler, Britain, in 1957. The country’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, a proponent of a pan- African government, was ousted in a military takeover in 1966. The country has experienced four more coups since then, two of which installed Jerry Rawlings as the nation’s president.

Yesterday’s runoff is the second since Ghana returned to multiparty democracy in 1992. Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms in office, won in a second-round election in 2000 that saw the NPP take power from the NDC.

Ghana’s economic policy is unlikely to change significantly under a new government, according to Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s largest lender.

Ghana’s gross domestic product grew by 6.3 percent last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2000. Gold accounts for 41 percent of its export revenue and cocoa 27 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Bowers in Accra via Johannesburg

--- Bloomberg News

Wondering why Ghana is succeeding where we are failing? see a list of those running the show.

John Kufour - Oxford economist

John atta-mills - British trained economist and professor and former Vice President

Nana Akuffo-Ado - British trained lawyer and Attorney General

Sam G Amoo - National Security Cor-ordinator, Retired Soldier, PhD holder from John Hopkins University, and former Diplomat.


While in Nigeria those running the show are
Umaru yar'adua - A chemistry teacher who is as unreactive as mecury

Mike Aondoakaa - An AGF who spent most of his life defending clients with cases of corruption

James Ibori - A king maker convicted twice in UK and once in Nigeria for the theft, fraud and shoplifting.

Mike

U failed to mention Bukola Saraki, whose only qualification is being the first child of a Bigman and who has had the luxury of running down one of the country's big banks

Ghanaians are Africans after all