Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Ghana's New President-Elect: John Atta Mills



Ghana's President-elect, John Atta Mills, is to be sworn in after his cliff-hanger election victory.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate beat the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo in a hotly contested poll by a margin of less than 0.5% of votes.

A BBC reporter says there is a carnival atmosphere in the capital with tens of thousands packed into Independence Square for the inauguration.

President John Kufuor is standing down after serving the maximum two terms.

He will be the second elected head of state in Ghana's history to hand over to an opposition politician.

Crowds began forming at the stadium before dawn - decked out in the national colours of green, yellow, red and black - amid an air of intense excitement after one of the closest election races in Africa's recent history.

Dignatories have begun arriving for the ceremony, although the BBC's Will Ross in Accra says that in their excitement people broke through to the area reserved for VIPs.

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SOURCE: BBC

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