John Atta Mills Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Presidential elections=== [[File:Mills Obama Billboard.jpg|thumb|left|President Mills featured on a billboard with Former US President [[Barack Obama]]]] In 2000, Mills became the NDC's candidate for the [[2000 Ghanaian presidential election|2000 presidential election]] after Rawlings had served his constitutionally mandated terms as president. The main rival for Mills' own bid for the presidency was [[John Agyekum Kufuor]], who was running as the candidate for the opposition [[New Patriotic Party]] (NPP). In the heat of the 2000 presidential campaign, Mills was roundly criticized for statements that if elected he would consult with Rawlings daily.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1508745/John-Evans-Atta-Mills |title=John Evans Atta Mills |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430121659/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1508745/John-Evans-Atta-Mills |archive-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> In the first round, held on 7 December 2000, Mills gained 44.8% of the vote, Kufuor won the first round with 48.4%, thus forcing a second round. On 28 December 2000, Kufuor defeated Mills with 56.9% of the vote and was sworn in as president on 7 January 2001. In December 2002, Mills was elected by his party to be its flag bearer and lead them into the [[2004 Ghanaian presidential election|2004 election]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fact File : John Evans Atta Mills |url=http://www.attamills2008.com/about.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707184219/http://www.attamills2008.com/about.html |archive-date=7 July 2011 |access-date=26 July 2012 |publisher=AttaMills2008}}</ref> He was, however, defeated again by incumbent president John Agyekum Kufuor, who received 52.45% of the vote on the first ballot. On 21 December 2006, he became the NDC's candidate for the [[2008 Ghanaian presidential election|2008 presidential election]], winning his party's ticket by an 81.4% result (1,362 votes), far ahead of his opponents, [[Ekwow Spio-Garbrah]], [[Mahama Iddrisu|Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu]], and [[Edward Annan|Eddie Annan]].<ref name="NDC">{{cite web|url=http://www.attamills2008.com/site/?page_id=2 |title=John Atta Mills & John Mahama – The Change We Deserve |publisher=National Democratic Congress |access-date=25 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201181245/http://www.attamills2008.com/site/?page_id=2 |archive-date=1 February 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=22 December 2006|title=NDC Congress Results-Prof Wins|url=https://www.modernghana.com/news/120781/1/ndc-congress-results-prof-wins.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019191841/http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/NewsArchive/news_details.asp?t=mg&id=VFZSSmQwNTZaM2c9&menu_id=1&sub_menu_id=0|archive-date=19 October 2008|access-date=24 July 2012|website=|publisher=modernghana.com}}</ref> In the 2008 election, [[John Agyekum Kufuor]] was no longer eligible to run as president, having served two terms. It was during this time that the term ''[[Better Ghana Agenda]]'' was coined. During the 2008 elections, in an attempt to change the public perception at the time that he would be a political lackey of his former mentor, [[Jerry Rawlings]] when elected, he distanced himself from his previous comments made in the 2000 campaign .<ref name="britannica.com"/> Mills' main opponent from the [[New Patriotic Party]] was now [[Nana Akufo-Addo]]. Mills ran under the campaign slogan of "A Better Man for a Better Ghana," on a platform of change. He said: "People are complaining. They're saying that their standard of living has deteriorated these past eight years. So if Ghana is a model of growth, it's not translating into something people can feel."<ref name="aljaz2"/> The result of the first ballot had Akufo-Addo in front with 49.13% of the vote to Mills' 47.92%, however, a run-off second round of voting was needed. The second round of voting took place on 28 December 2008. The result was a slim lead held by Mills, but due to problems with the distribution of ballots, the [[Tain]] constituency, located in the [[Brong-Ahafo Region]], was forced to vote again on 2 January 2009. The final result was a victory by Mills with 50.23% of the vote to Akufo-Addo's 49.77%. Mills became the third president of the 4th Republic of Ghana.<ref name="bbcbio" /> Self-described as a [[social democrat]] who believed in the concept of [[social welfare]] espoused by [[Kwame Nkrumah]] (independent Ghana's first leader), Mills embraced a political platform that was more comprehensive and less divisive than that of either Nkrumah or Rawlings. John Atta Mills was sworn in as president on 7 January 2009 in a peaceful transition after Akufo-Addo was narrowly defeated.<ref>Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, "The 2008 Freedom House Survey: Another Step Forward for Ghana." ''Journal of Democracy'' 20.2 (2009): 138-152 [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/262756/summary excerpt].</ref> His persistence and determination paid off when he won the 2008 presidential poll.<ref name="britannica.com"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page