Ghana opposition leader wins presidential election

By Kwasi Kpodo

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's opposition leader John Atta Mills was declared the winner of a closely fought presidential election run-off on Saturday, sweeping his party back to power after eight years.

The poll raised tensions in the gold and cocoa exporting country and challenges by both main parties had threatened to mar an election seen as a chance to bolster Africa's democratic credentials after flawed ballots elsewhere.

Results of voting in a final constituency on Friday showed Mills, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), narrowly defeated Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which lost its parliamentary majority in an election last month.

Mills, a former vice-president who twice lost presidential polls to outgoing NPP President John Kufuor, was conciliatory.

"I want to assure everybody that I will be president for all. There will be no discrimination," Mills said in a victory speech to thousands of NDC supporters who thronged the streets around his office in the West African country's capital, Accra.

"I would want to congratulate all other contestants, especially Nana Akufo-Addo, for giving us a good fight. It is my hope that we will be able to work together to build a better Ghana," he said.

Akufo-Addo conceded defeat. "Our nation is at a crossroads and we must work together to build it peacefully," he told a news conference. Outside, angry NPP crowds threatened journalists, who had to be escorted inside by party staff.

International monitors say voting has been mostly peaceful.