Mills receives boost

Accra, Ghana, 07/12 - A small opposition group, the National Reform Party (NRP) has announced plans to support Ghanaian opposition candidate John Atta Mills in the event of a run-off in the presidential election in December 2004.

NRC general secretary Kyeretwie Opoku said his party would contest the first round on 7 December, but would throw its weight behind Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the Convention People`s Party (CPP) in the second round.

But the CPP is also a small party that has no chance of going into the second round.

The NRP broke away from the NDC before the 2000 election dealing a big blow to the party of former President Jerry Rawlings. It then supported the NDC?s biggest rival, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate President John Agyekum Kufuor in the run-off.

The NRP accused the NDC of lack of internal democracy after Rawlings chose former vice president Mills as his heir.

However, since losing the 2000 elections, the NDC has undergone a major internal restructuring, which has won praises from political analysts.

Opoku claimed the policies of the NDC and ruling NPP were almost the same, but the NDC are better administrators.

He said security of the polls is the NRP`s main concern, adding that the government has been controlling the editorial policy of a section of the media.