Opposition to challenge Ghana poll

Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party of late Ghanian President John Atta Mills, protest near the Odorkor police station in Accra.

Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party of late Ghanian President John Atta Mills, protest near the Odorkor police station in Accra.

Published Dec 11, 2012

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Accra - Ghana's main opposition party said on Tuesday it will challenge in court the results of a December 7 poll in which incumbent president John Dramani Mahama was declared winner with 50.7 percent of the vote.

The New Patriotic Party, whose leader Nana Akufo-Addo, lost to Mahama, has said the vote was marred by irregularities.

“We are contesting the results, so we are going to court,” Nana Asante Bediatuo, the party's legal adviser, told Reuters.

“We believe we have enough evidence of malfeasance during the voting, and we are filing as soon as possible after putting them together,” Bediatuo said.

The disputed poll in the gold, oil and cocoa producing nation has raised fears of unrest in a country which has managed 30 years of successful democratic changes of power despite its location in the heart of west Africa's so-called “coup belt”.

Several hundred NPP supporters took to the streets in the capital Accra on Tuesday to protest the results.

A contested election in 2008, in which Akufo-Addo lost by less than 1 percent, pushed the country to the brink of chaos, with disputes over results driving hundreds of people into the streets with clubs and machetes. - Reuters

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