General News of Sunday, 7 December 2008

Source: GNA

Atta Mills confident of first round victory as he votes

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Sunday expressed confidence that he would be the next President as he cast his vote at Golden Gate polling station at the Ledzokuku Constituency in Accra. He said he would win the election "one touch" and was happy for the progress of the electoral process.

"I will not tell you the details now. I voted for Atta Mils and the parliamentary candidate of the NDC." Prof. Mills expressed confidence that the process would go well for a real winner to emerge.

Prof. Mills, sporting a white shirt, a pair of black trousers and a pair of black shoes, arrived at 1016 with his wife Naadu and was welcomed to the polling station by Commodore Steve Obimpeh, a former Health and Agriculture Minister under the NDC government. He took four minutes to go through the process. He waved his ballot paper to the crowd before casting the vote. Prof. Mills expressed concern about reports of delays in certain areas, mentioning Dansoman and Ashaiman in particular, and urged the EC to look into the matter quickly to make voters exercise their franchise. "It will be a tragedy if people are denied their right to vote," Prof. Mills said.

He said he would rest for a while after casting his vote and go round to see how the process was going.

Prof. Atta Mills expressed surprise at the huge turnout and said: "Ata Mills will get enough votes to win the election." When asked if he was tense, Prof. Mills said: "You can feel me. I have never been tense, but like a contestant in any competition, one cannot be very sure."

Prof. Mills is in the presidential race with seven others, including an independent candidate.