by Gina Doggett

   ACCRA, Dec 11 (AFP) - Ghana's democracy has taken a great step forward
with
the achievement of orderly elections opening up a new political arena in the
post-Rawlings era.
   In the first wide-open vote in the west African country's 43 years since
independence, the succession to 19 years under Jerry Rawlings, the
charismatic
former coup-maker who was elected president eight years ago, was up for
grabs.
   After the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) came out on top in both
the
presidential and parliamentary races, Accra's press captured the euphoria of
the moment with banner headlines such as "Change, Change, Change at Last"
and
"The Masses Have Spoken".
   The NPP's John Kufuor is tipped to win a runoff against the ruling party
candidate, John Atta Mills, having garnered nearly 49 percent of the vote to
the incumbent vice president's 45 percent.
   And in the 200-seat parliament, the NPP has become the leading force,
with
at least 97 seats against 93 for the ruling National Democratic Congress
(NDC), which occupied more than three-quarters of the outgoing assembly.
   Emmanuel Aning of the Institute of Economic Affairs said successful
elections were "the first major step towards consolidating the democratic
process" in Ghana.
   The vote last Thursday passed off peacefully with only one serious
flareup
in violence, in a northern constituency where clashes between rival sides
claimed 10 lives.
   The contrast could not be starker with the situation in neighboring Ivory
Coast, where possibly three-quarters of the electorate went unheeded in
presidential and parliamentary elections, a vacuum replaced by violence.
   Compared with "the politics of exclusion in Ivory Coast," what happened
in
Ghana is "very significant" said Napoleon Abdulai of the Foundation for
Security and Development in Africa.
   "A whole new leadership is coming to the political scene, which is
extremely good, unlike in the Ivory Coast," he said.
   The 200-strong team of international observers was expected to meet
Monday
to put their imprimatur on the freeness and fairness of the polling -- the
ticket to crucial new flows of foreign aid.
   For all the euphoria over the maturing democracy, Ghana's economic
outlook
is grim.
   The economy, crippled by rising prices, unemployment and a rapidly
weakening currency, was a pivotal factor in the NPP's strong gains,
especially
in the cities, where purchasing power has evaporated.
   The next government will be strapped with a budget deficit that has
forced
heavy borrowing from local banks.
   "It's impossible that they (the NPP) can deliver on the promises they
have
made," Communication Minister John Mahama said, adding that the oppositon
had
"raised the expectations of the electorate dangerously high" during the
campaign.
   Analyst Aning had grave doubts over the sincerity of Rawlings' repeated
pledges to stay out of politics.
   He predicted: "Rawlings and his wife (Nana Konadu, a political figure in
her own right) will be able to control a Kufuor government much better than
a
Mills government."
   For his part, Rawlings has said he intends to turn to campaigning against
malaria and AIDS.
   The "truly independent and objective" Independent daily said Monday: "Bad
news for mosquitoes, good news for us all."
   gd/nb

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