Brussels, 10/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - According to the initial assessments of the electoral observation mission of the EU, the presidential and parliamentary elections held in Ghana on 7 December took place openly, transparently and competitively. On Monday 8 December, the head of the EU mission, the MEP Nickolay Mladenov (EPP-ED, Bulgaria), welcomed the calm with which the voters went to the polls, in spite of the number of isolated incidents, and commented favourably on the professionalism of the electoral committee, despite fears over the precision of voter registration. The Ghanaians were called upon to elect a new president (replacing John Kufuor, who was not permitted to stand for a third term in office) and to renew the 230 members of Parliament for four years. The provisional results show that the two main candidates for the presidency are neck and neck, but that a second round will probably be necessary to decide between them (this will be held on 28 December). The candidate of the party currently in power, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has a slight lead over his opponent, the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Atta Mills. (A.B./transl.fl)