Ghanaians Vote In Historic Elections Thursday

Ghanaians Thursday vote in historic elections after a gruelling campaign that was overshadowed by violence, threats of post-election violence, intolerance, claims of plots to rig the poll, a skewed coverage and a court battle over identification of illegible voters.

Some 10.7 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots at over 20,000 polling stations across the country to elect a new president and 200 lawmakers.

This will be first time in Ghana's 43-year history that a leader will hand power to another one, even though he may be from the same party.

"We are ready for elections," Kofi Arhin, director of Elections of the Electoral Commission, told the Ghana News Agency. "The (voting) materials have been sent to the regional and district capitals for onward distribution to the polling stations."

He said the Ghana Airforce would airlift materials and personnel to the "overseas" areas and other inaccessible centres.

Various ministries and departments have been contacted through the Regional Co-ordinating Councils to help convey materials to the polling stations.

Arhin said the personnel of the Police, Prison, Fire and Customs, Excise and Preventive services will man the 20,113 polling stations through the country.

The voting, dubbed "Election 2000", is going ahead after the Supreme Court cleared the knotty issue of the form of identification for the poll.

The elections were thrown into doubt when a voter sued the Electoral Commission over its decision to allow only holders of photo identity cards to vote.

Philip Kwaku Apaloo of Kaneshie in Accra filed the suit Wednesday, saying the commission's decision was inconsistent with Article 42 of the constitution.

He sought a relief that not until the case is determined, the elections should not be conducted.

A five-member Supreme Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Joyce Baamford-Addo, unanimously ruled that registered voters with either the photo or thumb-printed ID card were allowed to vote.

It ruled further that voters with thumb-printed ID cards are not required to be identified at polling stations by Returning Officers and party agents.

The court declared as void the Electoral Commission's directives issued 11 November that the Returning Officer and party agents must identify voters in possession of thumb-printed cards.

It also declared void other directives given to polling agents and party representatives at polling stations with regard the identification of voters with thumb-printed cards.

The elections will also see President Jerry Rawlings stepping down as the longest-serving leader of Ghana.

He first burst onto the political scene in 1979 when he led the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council from 4 June to 24 September 1979, when he handed power to the late Dr Hilla Liman of the People's National Party.

However, Rawlings returned to oust Liman 31 December 1981 and ruled as leader of the Provisional National Defence Council until 1992 when he organised elections which he won with 58 percent of the votes.

He repeated his feat four years later when he won 57 percent of the votes.

This time, seven presidential candidates, all supported by political parties, are contesting the election for the highest office in the land.

They are Vice President John Atta Mills (National Democratic Congress), John Agyekum Kufuor (New Patriotic Party), Edward Mahama (People's National Convention) and Charles Wereko- Brobby (United Ghana Movement).

Others are Goosie Tanoh (National Reform Party) George Hagan (Convention People's Party) and Dan Lartey (Great Consolidated Popular Party.

The candidate who wins 50 percent of the votes cast Thursday wins the presidential contest and would rule for four years. In the event of no candidate winning that magic number in the first round, there would be run-off between the top-two candidates in two weeks.

The outcome of the poll is rather difficult to predict, as Ghana has no scientific polling system. All the parties claim their presidential candidates would win in the first round and collect more than half the parliamentary seats at stake.

However, it is clear that the National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party are the two biggest parties and the winner of the presidential election would be either Mills or Kufuor.

The issues that dominated the campaign were the economy health, education, social services, corruption and peace.

The opposition complained about an uneven playing field, saying the government took undue advantage of its incumbency and use state resources such as vehicles, equipment and manpower to campaign.

They also complained that the state media flouted the constitution by giving the National Democratic Congress more coverage. But the party said the private media, which was more favourable to the opposition parties, told a lot of lies about it.

No matter the outcome of the election, it would be a vote of Rawlings as it will be a referendum on his stewardship.