Runoff to Decide who fills Jerry Rawlings' shoes

The race to succeed Jerry Rawlings as Ghana's president has come down to a runoff between the top two candidates in last Thursday's elections.

The duel will pit John Kufuor, the candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), against John Atta Mills, the flagbearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Rawlings' protege.

Kufuor won 49 percent, just shy of the 50 percent plus one vote needed for an outright victory, against 45 percent for Atta Mills, forcing the runoff to be held in about three weeks.

Both camps fancy their chances in the showdown.

Atta Mills has "a good chance," said Communication Minister John Mahama, arguing that the decider will "bring into sharp focus" the credentials of each candidate.

Voters will be paying more attention to "who's best suited to be president," Mahama told AFP.

Atta Mills is relatively new to government, having been a law professor until he stood as Rawlings' running mate in 1996. Kufuor, who lost to the former strongman that year by a narrow margin, entered politics in the 1960s.

The immensely popular Rawlings must make a constitutional exit on January 7 after 19 years in power, including 11 as a military strongman and the last eight as elected president.

The NPP camp, bolstered by the first-round result and expressions of support from also-rans, exuded confidence for the runoff.

Dan Botwe, the NPP secretary general, predicted a "massive victory" for Kufuor.

"We accept the challenge, and we will beat them in the second round," Botwe told AFP.

While admitting that "beating an incumbent is not easy," he said the numbers were in Kufuor's favor.

Significantly, Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), who took 2.5 percent of the first-round vote, immediately issued a statement Sunday saying that he would support Kufuor.

In addition, NDC defector Goosie Tanoh of the National Reform Party "has already sent a clear message that he is in the NPP camp now," said political analyst Audrey Gadzekpo. Tanoh won 1.8 percent of the presidential vote.

"Let's make no mistake about it. ... The big thing is who the other parties are going to support," Gadzekpo told AFP.

However, she added: "I don't think the NPP should be complacent."

The duel "will be harder for them (the NDC), but they have their resources," said Gadzekpo, a lecturer at the University of Ghana school of communications.

"The results show clearly a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the NDC government," she said, pointing to the fact that 18 ministers and deputy ministers lost their seats in the parliamentary elections -- where the NPP triumphed with 97 seats against 89 for the NDC.

"It will be a real test of democracy in Ghana to have a balanced parliament," she said. "The parliamentary dynamics are going to be interesting."

The outgoing parliament, which the NDC dominated with 133 seats to the NPP's 61, "was a rubber-stamp parliament," Gadzekpo said.

Meanwhile, electoral officials began making plans to stage the Kufuor-Atta Mills contest and realized that they would have to find money to pay for some 40,000 ballot boxes, since those used in the first round must by law be locked up for six months.

Materials for last Thursday's poll were provided by international donors in a two million dollar program.