Ghana’s main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) stripped the ruling party of its majority in parliament in national elections and leads in a run-off for the presidency, provisional results showed on Sunday.
Results released by the Electoral Commission for Thursday’s presidential election from all but one constituency gave NPP hopeful John Kufuor 48.44 percent of the vote against 44.80 percent for Vice-President John Atta Mills.
In the parliamentary poll, the results gave Kufuor’s party 97 of parliament’s 200 seats against 90 for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of President Jerry Rawlings, who is stepping down after 19 years in power. Other parties hold seven.
“We have broken the myth of invincibility with which the NDC had surrounded itself,” Kufuor told a news conference, adding that his party had won six of the West African country’s 10 regions. “We have demonstrated that the NDC can be beaten.”
Mills has the backing of Rawlings, who seized power in a military coup but won multi-party elections in 1992 and 1996. He is due to step down on January 7 under a constitutional two-term limit. He has pledged to respect the poll result.
In the presidential poll, the remaining votes were split between five other candidates, some of whom rallied to Kufuor.
Results from the constituency of Bawku Central, representing less than one percent of the total vote, were delayed because of violent clashes between two ethnic groups in which at least seven people died.
“It appears that irrespective of what happens in Bawku Central, we are headed for a second round,” Electoral Commission Chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan told reporters.
