Mills Leads ....

Opposition leader John Atta Mills is narrowly leading Ghana's presidential ballot, according to unofficial results collated Monday by radio and TV stations.

The influential and independent Radio Joy FM reported that Atta Mills has 50.64 percent of some 8.7 million votes counted by midday Monday. Results were outstanding from seven constituencies with nearly 340,000 voters. Joy FM gave 49.36 percent of counted votes to Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling party.

Certified results, from only 99 of the 230 constituencies, gave Atta Mills 54.1 percent of votes to 45.9 percent for Akufo-Addo, the Africa Elections Project Ghana reported Monday afternoon. The project is an independent group monitoring the elections.

The Electoral Commission was not expected to publish final results of Sunday's runoff before Tuesday.

Atta Mills and Akufo-Addo, both aged 64 and British-educated barristers, topped a field of eight candidates but neither received more than the required 50 percent in the first round of voting on Dec. 7. They are vying to succeed President John Kufuor, who is retiring after two terms as required by law. Akufo-Addo, a 30-year veteran of Ghanaian politics, has campaigned on his party's success in driving the economy in Ghana, the world's No. 2 cocoa producer and the latest African nation to discover oil. Ghana's economy has grown by more than 6 percent annually since Akufo-Addo's party took office eight years ago. Investment has grown 20-fold and the discovery of oil is expected to boost state coffers by more than 20 percent with between $2 and $3 billion a year.

Atta Mills, an academic and tax specialist, accuses the ruling party of corruption and says that is partly why the new wealth has not trickled down to most Ghanaians, who remain among the world's poorest citizens earning an average $3.80 a day. One in 10 adults is unemployed and 40 percent of the population cannot read or write.

Voting was largely peaceful with isolated reports of violence and irregularities that are not expected to affect the outcome.

Ghana, a rare example of democracy in a region of totalitarian states, suffered back-to-back coups in the 1970s and 1980s. But after ruling for 11 years, strongman Jerry Rawlings organized elections. He won two terms, then surprised critics by surrendering power when his party's candidate lost to Kufuor in the 2000 vote. ___