City dwellers bearing the brunt of Ghana's economic crisis played a pivotal role in the bruising suffered by the ruling party in last week's elections, Communications Minister John Mahama said Sunday.

"We should have targetted the urban areas, and we failed to do that," Mahama said in an interview with AFP after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost heavily in Accra, Kumasi and other urban centers.

"We didn't know that they had made quite so many gains in the urban areas because of the difficulties with the economy this year," he said.

Rising prices, unemployment and a rapidly weakening currency have been a primarily urban scourge, and this factor more than any other accounts for the opposition's stunning performance in the cities, he said, adding: "For the urban worker the cost of living suddenly shoots up."

Sharp drops in world prices for Ghana's top two foreign exchange earners, gold and cocoa, and a more than doubling of the price of oil have put intense pressure on the cedi, which has lost more than half its value since last year.

In turn, purchasing power has evaporated, leaving import-hungry urbanites fuming.

"We are seeing a strong protest vote in the urban areas," Mahama said.

Among the parliamentary seats that had been considered safe, but were snapped up by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), were those of the interior and agriculture ministers.

In the presidential race, the NDC flagbearer John Atta Mills, President Jerry Rawlings' handpicked successor, trailed behind the NPP's John Kufuor, 45 to 49 percent.

The two face a runoff vote at the end of the month to decide who will replace Rawlings, who must make a constitutional exit on January 7 after 19 years in power, including 11 as a military strongman and the last eight as elected president.

The NDC campaigned heavily in rural strongholds, basing its strategy on fears that Atta Mills, the incumbent vice president, would be unlikely to enjoy a coattail effect from the Rawlings magic.

Atta Mills, a former academic whose nickname is "Prof", has little appeal among the grassroots, where the charismatic Rawlings, still viewed by many as a revolutionary and a champion of the people, enjoyed cult status.

Still, the NDC's Atta Mills has "a good chance" in the runoff showdown, Mahama said.

The decider will "bring into sharp focus" the credentials of each candidate, and people will be paying more attention to "who's best suited to be president" he added.

Atta Mills is relatively new to government, having been a law professor until he ran as Rawlings' running mate in 1996. Kufuor, who entered politics in the 1960s, lost narrowly to Rawlings that year.

"We campaigned in the rural areas to maintain our support," Mahama said.

Even there, crucial seats were lost because of poor choices of candidates, he said.

One choice was so unpopular that the party allowed Foreign Minister James Victor Ghebo to stand as an independent to ensure that the NPP would not win in the constituency. Under normal party rules, Ghebo risked suspension or even expulsion from the NDC for contesting the elections as an independent.

"We have learned in a painful way," that the party's choices of parliamentary candidates were in many cases ill advised, he said.