Strong turnout as voters go to the polls to pick new president

Millions of Ghanaians headed to the polls on Tuesday, with analysts predicting that voters would give President John Kufuor another four years at the helm of the West African country which has built a reputation as a haven of democracy and stability. Three other candidates are vying with the incumbent for the ballots of some 10 million registered voters in Ghana's fourth multi-party elections since the end of military rule in 1992. Kufuor's main barrier to a second and final term is John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress. But pundits expect Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party to come out on top, as he did when the two men faced off in the 2000 elections. "He really has to do something very foolish or outrageous to lose. The election is his for the taking," Ben Ephson, the editor of the privately-owned Dispatch newspaper who has accurately predicted the last two elections, told IRIN ahead of the poll. After casting his vote, Kufuor predicted that he would be celebrating his 66th birthday on Wednesday with a win. "I am confident of victory," the Oxford-educated lawyer, known as the "gentle giant", told reporters. He has been campaigning under the slogan 'So far, So good' and it was a message he stressed again on Tuesday. "The economy is important, and if people look at where we've come from there's only one way they are going to vote," Kufuor said. Strong world prices for cocoa, where Ghana is the world's number two grower, and gold, another key export, have helped push the country's economic growth up to over five percent a year. Kufuor's reputation for good governance has also won the hearts of western donors. Under his leadership, Ghana qualified last June for substantial debt relief under the World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, which is set to slash the country's US$ 6 billion external debt in half over 20 years and reduce debt service payments. But despite this, many people in this country of 19 million remain desperately poor. Nearly 45 percent live below the official UN poverty line of less than a dollar a day, and average per capita income is just US$ 304 a year. The opposition says the economic successes the government trumpets on paper have done little to affect the pockets and stomachs of ordinary people. Also running alongside Kufuor and Mills as presidential candidates are Edward Mahama from the Grand Coalition and George Aggudey from the Convention People's Party. But analysts do not expect either to attract more than five percent of the vote. Local radio stations reported a strong turnout across the country. In Accra, some people were queuing up to vote hours before the polls opened at 7.00 am. "I got here at two in the morning," said 24-year-old student Lawrence Donkor, who was first in line at a polling station in the capital, one of 21,000 dotted around the country. "I decided to come in very early to avoid the rush." At another polling station in Accra, about a third of the 950 registered voters at one polling centre had already cast their ballot by 10.20 am. The polls are set to close at 5.00 pm and ballots will start being counted immediately. A result is expected on Wednesday, although if no-one has captured 50 percent of the votes, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates. Ghanaians are also choosing a new 230-strong parliament for their country, which was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence.