Africa hails Ghana election as democratic success

ACCRA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The peaceful nature of Ghana's presidential election is a rare example of a functional democracy in Africa and should be a model for the continent, African leaders and voters said on Sunday.

Much attention in Africa and elsewhere was focused on the Ghanaian vote after a year of political crises, many of them violent, tarnished Africa's democratic credentials.

Opposition candidate John Atta Mills was declared the winner on Saturday after the closely fought election in the gold and cocoa exporter was settled by a run-off.

"John Atta Mills' victory and the conduct of the people of Ghana provides a rare example of democracy at work in Africa," Kenya's prime minister Raila Odinga said in a statement.

While the contest raised tensions and some violent incidents were reported, international observers say the vote was mostly peaceful. The conduct of the election contrasted with many other African countries, where democracy was battered in 2008.

More than 1,000 people were killed in post-election violence in Kenya at the start of the year and in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have been deadlocked for months over a power-sharing agreement after disputed elections.

Mauritania's first freely elected leader was overthrown in a military coup in August and army officers in mineral-rich Guinea took power after the death of long-serving President Lansana Conte in December.

The continent's biggest economy, South Africa, is likely to go to the polls in March in what analysts expect will be its most tense vote since the end of apartheid in 1994, after a power struggle split the ruling African National Congress last year.

"(The Ghanaian election) bears testimony to the respect for democracy and good governance in Africa," South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said. "The people of Ghana ... have through the ballot paper showed their appreciation for democracy," he said in a statement.