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Ghana elections: Polls open with tight race predicted | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Voting is under way in Ghana's presidential election in what analysts say is a tight race between President John Mahama and veteran opposition leader Nana Akufo Addo. | |
All seven candidates have pledged to keep the process peaceful but an opposition supporter died when a rally tuned violent on Monday. | |
The campaign has been dominated by the faltering state of Ghana's economy and the issue of corruption. | The campaign has been dominated by the faltering state of Ghana's economy and the issue of corruption. |
Results are expected within three days. | |
A run-off will be held later in the month if neither of the two main candidates secures more than 50% of the votes. | |
The candidates signed a pact last week vowing to follow electoral rules and keep the peace. | |
But clashes broke out on Monday in Chereponi, a small northern town on the border with Togo. In addition to the reported death, six people are said to be in a critical condition as a result. | |
Defeat for Mr Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would make him the only single-term president since Ghana returned to multi-party democracy. | |
He won in 2012, but he had already been sitting president for several months following the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills. | |
However he has been nicknamed "Mr Dumsor", a local word that refers to the power cuts that have blighted the country during his term. | |
Mr Akufo-Addo meanwhile is hoping it will be third time lucky for him and the centre-right New Patriotic Party (NPP), after two failed attempts in running for the country's top job. | |
He has promised free high-school education and more factories, but his critics have questioned the viability of his ambitions. |