Rawlings' party narrows gap but still trails in historic vote

Results from Ghana's rural north on Saturday improved the showing of outgoing President Jerry Rawlings' National Democratic Congress (NDC) in ground-breaking elections here.

Victory by the opposition, which scored stunning upsets in southern urban centers including the capital Accra, nevertheless remained virtually certain in the parliamentary race, while the margin in the popular vote for president has shrunk enough to prompt new talk of a possible run-off, analysts said.

With two-thirds of the vote declared, John Kufuor of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) had 50.66 percent of the popular vote, while the NDC's John Atta Mills had just under 42 percent.

Kufuor had enjoyed a commanding early lead approaching 70 percent. If his share dips below 50 percent plus one vote, a runoff must be held in three weeks' time.

Education Minister Ekow Spio seemed to have the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth when he told the predominantly Twi-language radio Peace FM that an NPP government would not find enough funds in the handover coffers to make good on their campaign promises.

"Winning is one thing, but being to able to deliver is another," he said.

Front-page headlines of the government-run Evening News newspaper read "Top Ministers Lose Seats" and "Accra Falls to NPP," the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

In a vote marking the first orderly transfer of power in Ghana since it became the first colony in Africa to win independence in 1957, the NPP has swept urban centers and scored major upsets in ruling party strongholds including the capital Accra.

Casualties included the interior and agriculture ministers, as well as the Greater Accra Regional minister.

As Rawlings, for 11 years a military strongman before he won the first of two four-year terms in 1992, prepares to make a constitutional exit, Ghanaians have voted emphatically for change.

In an interview Vibe FM radio on Friday, Rawlings admitted that his protege and party could lose. "If we have to make predictions on the current trends, Kufuor could probably be the next president," he said.

Total turnout was expected to surpass 85 percent of the 10.7 million electorate, who have delivered a stinging indictment of Rawlings and his government.

The elections were generally peaceful, to the relief of many who feared manipulation, intimidation and violence.

However, the country awoke to the news Saturday that a dispute at a polling center in the far northern town of Bawku degenerated into an ethnic clash in which four people including a young boy were killed.

For many the elections amounted to a referendum on the Rawlings era, during which one of Africa's most colorful leaders assumed cult status in Ghana despite his sometimes ruthless rule.

His government's track record of corruption and financial mismanagement also spurred the desire for change.

Ghana, Africa's richest colony early in the last century thanks to its gold and cocoa, now faces economic meltdown with high unemployment, rising prices and a dangerously weak currency.

Plunges in world prices for gold and cocoa, its top foreign exchange earners, have made matters worse.

The battle between the NDC and the NPP has left five other smaller parties in the dust.