John Atta Mills

John Evans Atta Mills ( born July 21, 1944 in Tarkwa, † July 24, 2012 in Accra ) was a Ghanaian politician. He was Fante ethnic and from 2009 until his death president of his country.

Career

John Evans Atta Mills was a lawyer and university professor. He studied at the University of Ghana ( Accra ), the University of London in the UK and at Stanford Law School in the U.S. law and a doctorate on the topic of " Tax and Development ". For 25 years he taught at the University of Ghana in Accra law.

From 1997 to 2001 Mills was vice president under President Jerry Rawlings and was systematically rebuilt by this as his successor. Mills was already meet twice unsuccessfully as a candidate in the Ghanaian presidential elections in 2000 and 2004. In 2000 he ran for the first time even for president in Ghana as a candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC ). In this election, as in the following election in 2004, John Agyekum Kufuor defeated Mills in a runoff election. After the first ballot Kufuor combined 48.8 % of the vote, Mills received, especially in traditionally rural areas, a total of 44.3 % of the vote.

In the presidential elections in early December 2008 Mills Nana Akufo - ran against Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party. The first round of voting on 7 December Akufo - Addo had won, but short of an absolute majority. In the following run-off election, the NDC politicians Mills prevailed with 50.23 percent of the vote, while Akufo - Addo was only 49.77 percent, according to the Election Commission in early January 2009.

Mills was married to a teacher and father of a son. As an athlete, he was an active field hockey player and a member of Ghana hockey national team, " Black Stars ".

After the death of Mills the former Vice President John Dramani Mahama took on a transitional basis until new elections in December 2012, the official business.