Elections Dominate Ghanaian Press

Thursday's second round of the presidential election in Ghana featured prominently in the country's media throughout the week.

Virtually all the private newspapers, which have been bitter critics of the government, wrote screaming headlines calling on the electorate to vote for opposition leader John Agyekum Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

"Go for positive change, go for Kufuor," wrote The Independent. The Accra Mail had pictures of opposition leaders who have come together in the second round against the vice president John Atta Mills. It described them as "men of the year".

The Statesman, the mouthpiece of the NPP, said in its front- page banner "Time for change."

However, the state-owned newspapers toed a middle of the road line. The Graphic wrote, "The battle of the Johns, Mills of Kufour." The Ghanaian Times for its part asked "Who wins race?"

The Graphic in an editorial "Let there be calm", said as Ghanaians vote, there have been many appeals for calm.

It said the public should not be guided by the violence in Bawku, Upper East Region, where some 30 people died in post- election violence during the first round.

The Graphic and Times also wrote about the broadcast by President Jerry Rawlings on Wednesday night in which he condemned the murders of dozens of women in Ghana.

Another woman was found dead in the capital on Wednesday. The two state-owned newspapers also gave space to the Eid-Ul-Fitr which was celebrated on Wednesday in Ghana.