* Mills to face former ruler Rawlings' wife in primaries
* First sitting president to face re-election challenge
By Kwasi Kpodo
ACCRA, April 14 (Reuters) - The wife of Ghana's former long-time ruler Jerry Rawlings will challenge President John Atta Mills in presidential primaries scheduled for July, an aide said on Thursday.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings resigned as an executive member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday in order to contest the July 8-10 primaries, the former first lady's aide Kofi Adams told Reuters.
Konadu, 62, is married to John Jerry Rawlings who seized power in Ghana in successive coups, first in 1979 and then in 1981 and ruled the country until 2001.
Her move is a sign of cracks within the NDC, founded by her husband, ahead of a presidential poll planned for December 2012.
"(The resignation) was to enable her... to pick up nomination forms for the party's primaries," Adams said, confirming Konadu's plan to challenge Mills.
It will be the first time that a sitting president in Ghana competes through the ballot box for the party's nomination for a second term.
Ghana, the world's second-biggest cocoa exporter which recently joined the club of West Africa oil producing nations, has been a haven of political stability in a region once known as the "coup belt".
The country has successfully held free and fair elections and has seen three changes of leadership since 2001. Mills narrowly won hotly contested elections in 2008 for a four-year term and is eligible for a second term. (Editing by Bate Felix and Gareth Jones)
Source: Reuters
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