Polling stations closed in Ghana Sunday evening after a run-off presidential election that will decide who leads the West African nation into an era of oil production, according to dpa. While the election passed off peacefully, the two parties battling it out accused each other of attempting to rig the vote. Neither Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) nor John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were able to score a decisive victory in the first round in early December. Akufo-Addo scooped marginally more votes than Atta Mills, but the other six candidates polled enough to prevent him from crossing the 50 per cent mark. The run-off was expected to be tight. Analysts said a high voter turnout would favour the NPP. Ghanaian media reported a mixed turnout at the polling stations, but said that overall fewer people seemed to have voted than in the first round. Turnout was about 70 per cent of the population in the first round. Some 12.5 million people were eligible to vote. The election is seen as key to African democracy, which sorely needs a boost after electoral chaos in Kenya and Zimbabwe and coups in Mauritania and Guinea this year. However, there were reports of groups of men attempting to snatch ballot boxes at polling stations across the country, mainly in NDC strongholds. The NDC said in a statement that it may not accept results from the Ashanti region, alleging intimidation and harassment of NDC officials. It also accused the Electoral Commission of not using proper indelible ink to mark voters at some stations, allowing people the chance to vote more than once. However, the NPP countered with claims that its polling agents were harassed by the NDC in the capital Accra and the Volta Region. Ghanaian police and military forces have provided heavy security at potential flashpoints. The borders with Togo, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso were also closed. Foreign election monitoring teams are in place to observe the election. The EU's election monitoring team, which hailed the first round as a a credit to democracy, is due to deliver its verdict on the second round on Tuesday. The Ghana electoral commission said it would release the results within 48 hours of the polls closing. Atta Mills and Akufo-Addo are vying to replace John Kufuor, who must step down in January after serving two terms. Kufuor revived the Ghanaian economy by bringing pro-market reforms and political stability. Economic growth has been strong and the NPP campaigned on a platform of continuity. However, despite the growth and the fact that Ghana is the second- largest cocoa grower in the world - as well as being Africa's second- biggest producer of gold - there is still widespread poverty among ordinary Ghanaians. Neither candidate is expected to institute major policy changes. Both also promise good governance of revenue from newly discovered oil, due to come onstream in late 2010. Ghana's National Petroleum Corporation expects 120,000 barrels per day initially, with that figure rising to 250,000 barrels a day within two years.
