PRESIDENT KUFUOR WINS GHANA'S ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 002443 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2014 TAGS: PGOV PREL GH SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KUFUOR WINS GHANA'S ELECTION REF: A. A) ACCRA 7444 B) ACCRA 2366 ¶B. C) ACCRA 2367 D)ACCRA 2390 Classified By: PolChief Scott Ticknor for reasons 1.5 d and e. ¶1. (U) Summary: The Electoral Commission has officially declared President John Kufuor the winner of the December 7 presidential election, with 52.7 percent of the vote (with 3 constituencies not yet confirmed). As of noon December 10, NDC candidate John Atta Mills had not yet conceded defeat. The NPP won 129 out of 227 confirmed parliamentary seats. Post issued a congratulatory statement on the election results. End summary. Updated Results -------------- ¶2. (U) On the night of December 9, the Electoral Commission officially declared President John Kufuor the winner of the December 7 presidential election. With 227 of 230 constituencies counted (the EC has still not yet confirmed 3 constituency results),the tally is: Presidential -------------- Candidate Percentage Vote -------------- -------------- John Kufuor (NPP) 52.75 John Evans Atta Mills (NDC) 44.32 Edward Mahama (PNC) 1.93 George Aggudey (CPP) 1.0 Parliamentary -------------- Party Number of Seats Won -------------- -------------- NPP 129 NDC 90 PNC 4 CPP 3 Independent 1 ¶3. (U) According to the EC, 8,615,306 ballots were cast, of which 183,997 were rejected (2.14 percent),leaving a total of 8,462,710 valid ballots. Kufuor won 4.46 million votes, compared to Mills' 3.75 million. The final voter turnout was 83.2 percent. The EC refused an NDC request for a recount of the rejected ballots. ¶4. (U) On December 10, President Kufuor addressed the media acknowledging the EC's decision, thanking Ghanaians, and noting that his priorities for the next term are: good governance, human resource development, economic growth and reforms, and reconciliation in the troubled Dagbon area of Northern Region. As of noon December 10, Mills had not yet conceded defeat. Key Judgments -------------- ¶5. (C) We will be analyzing this election in detail over the coming weeks. Our initial assessment of these results points to the following judgments: -- President Kufuor won by a comfortable, but not an overwhelming, margin. NDC presidential candidate Mills did respectably, scoring about the same as in both rounds of the 2000 election. This election reinforced the dominance of Ghana's two main parties. -- The CPP and PNC, both in the Nkrumahist political tradition, remain small players in Ghanaian politics. The CPP did particularly poorly, in part a consequence of its weak presidential candidate. The CPP won 2 of its 3 parliamentary races in seats which the NPP did not contest (ceding the territory to CPP allies). Other small parties were unable to win a single seat. -- The NPP position in parliament appears likely to improve slightly, increasing from 103 (of 200 seats) to at least 129 (of 230 seats). The NDC is slightly weaker, dropping from 89 (out of 200 seats) to 90 (out of 227 seats at this point.) -- The election revealed general continuity in the vote banks of the NPP and NDC, with some new inroads by the NPP. The NPP did well in Ashanti and Eastern regions, while the NDC swept its traditional strongholds of Volta, Upper East, Upper West, and Northern regions. The NPP did surprisingly well in Central and Greater Accra regions, which most local pundits thought would be more evenly split. The NPP did much better than in 2000 in the Western region. For the first time since 1992, the NPP won one parliamentary seat in Volta region. -- There were no major parliamentary upsets which are likely to have a significant impact on U.S.-Ghana relations. Prominent parliamentary losers included: NDC National Organizer Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris (Minister of Works and Housing and the only Dagomba tribesman in the Cabinet),Elizabeth Ohene (Minister of State for Tertiary Education and a close PAS contact),Hawa Yakubu (former Minister of Tourism and a representative for Ghana in the ECOWAS parliament),Deputy Interior Minister Thomas Broni, and Jojo Bruce-Quansah Editor of Palaver newspaper (an NDC mouthpiece). -- Kufuor will not likely announce decisions about changes in his Cabinet after his inauguration on January 7. -- This election reinforced the reputation of the Electoral Commission. Despite criticism before the election about the EC's handling of the voter register, its budget and its inaccessibility to party complaints, the Electoral Commission pulled off an impressive election. -- As predicted, the results reflect a combination of ethnic, personality, performance and other issues. For many Ghanaians, the NPP was a party of peace, while the NDC was tainted to some extent by the human rights abuses and instability of the Rawlings era. It is not clear whether Rawlings' prominence in this campaign helped the NDC. -- The election was generally free, fair and peaceful, with a few isolated incidents of violence. It reinforces Ghana's democratic credentials and boosts its international image. Embassy observers were impressed by the turnout, fairness, and genuine democratic commitment of all involved in the election. USG Statement -------------- ¶5. (U) The Embassy issued the following press release on December 10: Begin Text. The US Government congratulates the people of Ghana for the successful completion of the presidential and parliamentary election in a transparent, fair and primarily peaceful manner. This landmark event demonstrates to the subregion, the entire African continent, and the rest of the world that democratic values and institutions are firmly established in Ghana. We commend the Government of Ghana and the Electoral Commission for their actions to ensure a successful voting process that allowed the will of the electorate to prevail. We look forward to working with President John A. Kufuor and his administration to pursue the common interests of the United States and Ghana in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. We call on members of the new Parliament to work constructively with one another and Mr. Kufuor to address the issues important to the people and the future of Ghana. End Text. LANIER