Ghanaians voted peacefully today in a deciding run-off to choose a president for Africa's newest emerging oil producer, in an election many hope can salvage the continent's battered democratic credentials.
Election officials said voting went ahead generally smoothly in the capital Accra and across the West African state, despite some minor hitches and disputes. Turnout by midday appeared to be lower than in the inconclusive December 7th first round.
"It has been generally peaceful," Director of Elections Albert Arhin told Reuters.
The presidential contest pits Nana Akufo-Addo, of the previously ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), against the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)'s John Atta Mills, after neither managed an outright win on December 7th.
Both are foreign-trained lawyers, both 64, and they have vowed to maintain the stability and growth which have made the cocoa and gold exporting former British Gold Coast colony a recent favourite of investors on a turbulent continent.
Ghana is already the world's second largest cocoa grower and the second largest gold producer in Africa, and is preparing to start commercial oil output in late 2010.
The Ghana ballot follows setbacks to constitutional democracy in Africa this year posed by flawed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe and military coups in Mauritania and Guinea.
The presence of voters at polling stations, which were guarded by soldiers and police, appeared lighter than three weeks ago, which could prove decisive in the close-fought race.
"Don't forget today is Sunday and some people may be coming to vote after church," said Arhim. He added the simpler ballot choice, compared to the combined presidential and parliamentary polls on December 7th, could also be making voting faster.
Some analysts say a turnout higher than the 70 per cent recorded in the first round could favour the NPP's Akufo-Addo, while a lower turnout - traditional in second rounds - could boost the chances of the NDC's Mills.
Reuters