Presidential Poll Begins

Polls opened early today in Ghana's presidential elections, as nearly 10 million voters were called to choose a successor to long-time ruler Jerry Rawlings, the one-time strongman who is stepping down after 19 years in power.

The west African country's some 20,000 polling stations opened at 7:00am (0700 GMT) and were set to close at 5:00pm (1700 GMT).

People were already waiting outside polling stations in the capital Accra as the polls opened.

In what is expected to be the country's first orderly handover from one civilian president to another since independence in 1957, Rawlings is to cede to the winner of a run-off vote between his handpicked successor, Vice President John Atta Mills, and frontrunner John Kufuor of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Rawlings vowed once again in a nation-wide address late on Wednesday to "hand over to my successor, whoever he may be, a united, peaceful and stable country".

The second-round vote was forced after neither candidate mustered the minimum 50 percent needed for an outright victory on December 7.

Most observers expect the vote to be close, although Kufuor appears to have the edge, having taken 48 percent to Atta Mills' 44 percent in the first round, then winning the endorsement of all five of the minor candidates in the first round.

And the NPP snapped up 99 of the 200 seats in parliament, a show of force that left the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) licking its wounds, having seen its comfortable 133-seat majority shrink to 92.

The drubbing received by the NDC was seen as an indictment of the Rawlings years, marked by human rights abuses and economic decline.

Campaigning has focused on economic themes at a time when Ghana faces high inflation, unemployment and plummeting prices for its main export earners, gold and cocoa.

Rawlings, who seized power in a widely popular coup in 1981, legitimised his rule with civilian elections in 1992, and then was re-elected in 1996.

His anointed successor Atta Mills, with four years as vice president as his only political credentials, is a former law lecturer nicknamed "Prof" with little appeal to the grassroots, Rawlings' mainstay. Kufuor, for his part, entered politics in the 1960s.

He lost narrowly to Rawlings in 1996.

Polling in the first round was considered orderly, free and fair, and a similar performance was predicted for Thursday.

The final result is expected Saturday.