Ho, Dec. 31, GNA - Ho and Aflao townships came alive with spontaneous but short-lived jubilations following the announcement of the results of the Presidential Election Runoff on Wednesday, which failed to produce a winner.

The results saw Professor John Evans Atta-Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) slightly ahead with 50.13 per cent and 49.87 per cent for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The jubilations, therefore, fizzled out when it dawned on the people that the announcement did not declare Professor Mills as

the next president of the Republic of Ghana.

Prior to the announcement by the Electoral Commission, the two municipalities went silent as their anxieties and frustrations kept mounting in anticipation of declaring a winner by the Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan.

Reacting to the declaration, Mr Modestus Ahiable, Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC, said the country would have been spared the extra cost and time if the EC had provided enough materials for the Tain Constituency elections during the December 28, 2008 runoff. "We will go and fight the last battle knowing that God is on our side", he said. However, Mr Ahiable said, the Tain election would help to cool down the political tension.

Mr Johnson Avuletey, Volta Regional Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), declined to comment on the results. Mr Peter Ziku, a retired teacher told, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Aflao that it was God, who ordained leaders and was sure that Professor Mills would eventually be the victor.

Madam Celestine Atchoukle, a Togolese itinerant trader, described the outcome of the polls as a puzzle and said the calm manner in which it was handled again portrayed Ghana as a more mature country politically in dealing with complex political issues.

Mr Baba Shaibu, a Ghanaian transit truck driver, also said Ghana needed a breather and that the Tain election would result in a conclusive victory for Professor Mills.

Other comments picked by the GNA in Ho described the Commission's decision as a clever way of resolving a very delicate problem, which was crucial to the peace and stability of the country.

Some described Dr Afari Gyan as a shrewd arbiter, who was behaving like a referee of a football match, who had decided on a "penalty shoot-out" in a highly competitive and emotionally charged game and that he had applied his experiences in an admirable way.

They said the decision of the Commission was an indirect way of declaring Prof Mills as the winner and by so doing offer Nana Akufo-Addo the opportunity to bow out gracefully by conceding defeat, rather than a conspiracy to deprive the NDC of victory.