And more Elections

Ghanaians face a presidential run-off as poll results showed that the ruling party's candidate came out on top in the first round; but just failed to knock his main challenger out of the contest.

According to AFP, Nana Akufo-Addo from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) won 49.13 percent of the vote, ahead of John Atta-Mills of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) with 47.92 percent. The third placed Candidate was way behind on 1.3 per cent of the vote. The winning candidate had to achieve 50 percent of the vote plus one vote in order to win the election. The next poll between the two front-runners, takes place on December 28th. According to the Electoral Commission Chief Kwado Afari Gyan; turnout in last weeks Election was a healthy 69.52 percent. A turnout of this magnitude indicates that democracy is alive and Well in Ghana. Although there was one small hiccup in that the announce results were based on 229 out of the country's 230 constituencies as Ballot Boxes in one constituency had been tampered with. 229 out of 230, 1 tampered, 1.3 per cent and we realise that numbers do matter after all. Worse still, time has to be set aside to prepare for the second round on the 28th. Given that time is relative, I suspect that this Christmas will go slow for the two contenders, but that time will move too fast for the Party faithful who try and rustle up more support for their chosen candidate. But what really matters is that neither candidate is vying for the top job at the end of the barrel of a gun. It is democracy, and a close hard fought campaign will only go to strengthen the value and credibility of the successful candidate. It would be lovely to meet the Winner and to hope that Ghana can continue to enjoy the peace that it has had for so long.

The Elections

According to the BBC the main contenders to succeed President John Kufuor are; ex-Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo and the opposition's John Atta Mills. Like in the United States; President Kufuor has to step down from holding the office of President having served the maximum of two terms.

Time waits for no Man

Einstein said that Time waits for no Man. Well, if he didn't then he should have. As time certainly doesn't wait around at all. I haven't seen my friend Adam for quite a while and we met up yesterday. What was really interesting about that meeting is that Adam felt, that as a regular reader of the Blog he had in fact kept in touch. Which is quite cool as he is not one of the two listed followers, and I didn't have to spend a lot of time bringing him up to date with what is happening in my life at the moment. Well answers on a postcard there then, as not much is happening at home or in work. Even the studying has been put on the back burner for a while. Especially with Christmas looming and the demands of the 'n' gauge railway build. But the Blog readership is good news, as Adam's declaration means that the Blog now has three Followers and 3 is my lucky number. Well, it ain't quite as lucky as the number 4 but then again that is another story. I suppose Luck, like Time plays an important part of everyone's life. And if it's not time, then it certainly is timing. You only have to look at President elect Barack O to work that one out. But while the United States Elections drew everyone's attention across the World, back in Africa another election was about to take place. The Billboards in Accra displayed lots of pictures of the potential candidates in what would appear on face value to an outsider, to be a system of personality politics. But my conversations with others showed that this was not the case and the election was about who would be best for the Country and why? The Ghanaians embraced their election long before Barack made voting popular. The number of voters was even reported in the UK on the Ceefax and Teletext systems. Lots of text there then; but I wonder what the winners lucky number is? And if that number and the timing of their candidacy had anything to do with the outcome?