Battle of the Johns

Accra - The battle of the two Johns for the presidency of the west African state of Ghana opened on Tuesday with an ambitious campaign to register 10 million voters ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls set for December.

Over the next two weeks, about 84 000 registration officials will criss-cross the country to photograph and register eligible voters over the age of 18, hoping to avoid vote fraud similar to that which plagued the 2000 elections that sent John Kufuor to the presidency.

An estimated one million "ghost voters" bloated the rolls in the last election campaign, political analyst Kwamena Kum said, making the need for a new voter registration system crucial to ensure transparency.

Kufuor faced off against arch-nemesis John Evans Atta-Mills in the 2000 campaign and won in a second round after neither of them managed to obtain the requisite 50% plus one of valid votes cast.

Won easily

Kufuor won the second round easily, once the other five candidates threw their support behind him.

Atta-Mills, the vice president under former president Jerry Rawlings of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has declared his intention to run again.

Some analysts are predicting the December contest will be a walk-over for Kufuor, who has made economic growth the centrepiece of his presidency.

Hoping to toughen the fight, Atta-Mills has held closed-door negotiations with the four other opposition parties urging them to support his campaign and make the polls a two-horse race, sources close to the parties said.

Corruption and security

Battle lines have already begun to be drawn ahead of the election campaign, which is expected to start in earnest in September, with quality of life, corruption and security looking to be the pivotal issues that drive voters to the polls.

The press is also likely to play a major role in the months leading up to the vote, with a 2003 study revealing that 82% of Ghanaians plan to rely on the media to choose their candidate.

NDC communications director John Mahama has expressed concern that state control over 10% of Ghana's media outlets will give Kufuor an unfair advantage.

"The forthcoming elections would be media elections because the media would be a major decider, and this should not be ignored," he said.

December will also bring parliamentary elections, with voters choosing 230 people to represent them in the legislature. The number of seats to be contested has risen by 30 since the 2000 vote, due to a review of parliamentary constituencies based on a population census released in 2001.

The two-week registration campaign is expected to cost $12.7m, while the price tag for the elections is expected to hit $11.1m, according to Sarfo Kantanka, the deputy elections commissioner.