Early Returns Show Tight Race in Ghana Presidential Vote
加纳总统选举难分胜负

　
In Ghana, election officials are counting the votes from Sunday's elections and unofficial returns show that with more than one-third of the constituencies tabulated, two leading candidates are in a tight race for the presidency.

加纳的选举官员正在清点星期天选举的选票。非官方的选举结果显示，在已统计出来的超过三分之一的选区中，两位角逐总统的主要候选人得票率旗鼓相当，不相上下。

Voters in Ghana were closely following vote tabulation in the country's 230 constituencies Monday as election officials predicted official results would take a few days to be completed.

加纳的选民在密切关注着全国230个选区的点票工作。与此同时，选举官员预计，官方的计票结果要几天后才能完成。

Officials report high voter turnout

Voter turnout was high Sunday as Ghanaians chose a new president and parliament.

选民星期天的投票率很高。加纳选民将选举一位新总统和新一届议会。

An official with a team of international observers from the Carter Center, David Carroll, said the polling was largely calm.

卡罗尔是“卡特中心”国际观察小组的一名官员。他说，总体来说投票情况相当平静。

"This has been quite an orderly and peaceful process and, importantly, a high turnout. But most importantly it is a very competitive process and a very tight race," he said.

“投票在相当有秩序、平和的气氛中进行。重要的是投票率很高。但是最重要的是，选举竞争非常激烈，胜负难分。”

Observers from the European Union, the Commonwealth and the West African Economic Community, ECOWAS, echoed this assessment.

来自欧盟、英联邦、西非经济共同体的观察员也对选情做出了类似的评估。

President John Kufuor is retiring after eight years in office. The candidate of his New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, was running neck-and-neck with opposition candidate John Atta-Mills of the National Democratic Congress of former President Jerry Rawlings.

加纳总统库福尔在执政8年后将退休。他所在的新爱国党候选人纳纳.阿库福-阿多同反对党、前总统罗林斯领导的“全国民主大会党”候选人约翰.阿塔-米尔斯之间的角逐不分上下。

Analysts say election shows citizens maturing in political game

The public affairs head of Ghana's Electoral Commission, Christian Owusu-Pare, noted there had been some campaign incidents, but indicated these had not prevented a free and fair vote.

加纳选举委员会公共事务负责人奥乌苏-佩尔指出，竞选活动中出现一些状况，但是他表示，这些事件并没有影响自由和公正的投票。

"Although there have been pockets of violence here and there in the past, we have not experienced the kind of violence that we have witnessed in other African countries. But there seems to be an improvement in the situation now and it is an indication that Ghanaians are gradually maturing in this political game," Owusu-Pare said.

“虽然过去这些或者那些地区曾发生过暴力事件，但是我们没经历过我们在其它非洲国家目睹的那种暴力。目前来看局势似乎已经好转。这表明，加纳人在政治活动中正逐渐走上成熟。”

He acknowledged there had been complaints from opposition parties about an unexpectedly high number of newly registered voters. But he said the Commission had removed many names that had been registered more than once.

他承认，反对党对新登记选民人数高得超出寻常多有怨词。不过他说，选举委员会删除了很多重复登记一次以上的选民的名单。

Carter center notes some irregularities

Carroll said Carter Center observers had seen only a few isolated irregularities during the polling and expressed hope that the results would be accepted by all.

卡罗尔说，卡特中心的观察员在投票中仅发现了一些孤立的违法行为，并希望这些结果能被各方都接受。

"Ghana is showing again that there is an unusually high level of political maturity in this country and I think we can count on Ghanaians and the major parties to have the patience to let the process run its course," said Carroll.

“加纳再次展现了加纳的政治成熟度非常高。我认为，我们能指望加纳人和主要政党保持耐心，静候选举的结果出来。”

Official results are expected in a few days. If no presidential candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote a runoff election is to be held in three weeks.

官方的结果预计将于几天后揭晓。如果没有任何一位总统候选人赢得50%以上的选票，将于三个星期后举行决选。