Ghanaian elections herald end of Rawlings' era

ACCRA, Ghana (Reuters) -- Ghana heralds the end of 19 years in power for maverick President Jerry Rawlings with general elections on Thursday.

Rawlings, who seized power twice through the barrel of a gun but won multi-party elections in 1992 and 1996, cannot run for a third term because of a constitutional two-term limit.

He is the West African country's longest-serving head of state since independence from Britain in 1957.

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Voting runs from 7 a.m. (0700 GMT) to 5 p.m.

In an address to the nation broadcast on state media late on Wednesday, Rawlings urged Ghanaians to vote calmly and promised to accept the poll result.

"Whoever wins by genuine means should be accepted by all of us," he said, although as in previous occasions he gave no clues on what he will do when he stands down.

Seven candidates are vying for the presidency, with Rawlings's vice president, John Atta Mills, and the leader of the main opposition party, John Kufuor, as the front-runners.

Ghanaians will also elect a new parliament, whose 200 seats are currently dominated by Rawlings's National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The electoral campaign, which officially closed on Tuesday, has passed off relatively peacefully, except for sporadic clashes last month between rival political activists which left one dead and a bitter dispute over voters' identification papers.

The two main challengers are both lawyers and have a strikingly similar programme.

Both have pledged to put the economy, currently crippled by tumbling gold and cocoa prices -- the country's chief exports -- back on its feet. They have also promised to tackle widespread corruption and foster development.

Candidates dispute Rawlings' legacy

Where they do differ is in their analysis of Rawlings' legacy.

For Kufuor, who runs for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Rawlings is to blame for virtually all of the country's problems.

"The economy is not working. Social services have lost value. Even the infrastructure, there are some token showpieces but most of the country is still underdeveloped. And our currency, the cedis, has plunged over the past year," he told Reuters in an interview.

He said Rawlings had "behaved as if he was above the law," although he conceded that not everything in his tenure had been negative.

"He has managed to convert his rule from a military dictatorship into a constitutional government," he said.

Mills paints a completely different picture.

"President Rawlings and the NDC have given this country peace, stability and relative prosperity," he said in a pre- recorded message on state media.

"We want you to vote me and the NDC to build on the foundations that have been laid."

Kufuor has been buoyed by a recent poll giving him a 10 percentage point lead over Mills, but analysts predict no candidate will take more than 50 percent of the vote and a second round will be needed within two weeks of the first.

Whoever wins, analysts agree a lot is at stake.

"We are in the final stages of Ghana's transition to democracy. If we successfully pass this test, then we will be able to start consolidating our democracy," said Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a local think-tank.

"It will be the first time in this country that power is handed over through the ballot, under the same constitution and in the same Republic. And this time, there is even the possibility of power alternation. That is rare in Africa."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Ghana Elections 2000
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