Incumbent President John Mahama has won the 2012 presidential election in Ghana. (Google Images)

The Guardian Nigeria is reporting that incumbent John Mahama has won Ghana’s presidential election. The electoral commission reported that Mahama won 50.7% against opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo on 47.74%. However, the opposition NPP says it will contest the result, accusing the governing NDC party of conspiring with commission staff to fix Friday’s poll.

Laura Burke and Francis Kokutse of the Associated Press report:

Opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo, who lost the 2008 election by less than 1 percent, came in second with 5.2 million votes, or 47.7 percent, Afari-Gyan said. Voter turnout was high, with around 80 percent of the roughly 14 million registered voters casting ballots in Friday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. In a draft statement seen by reporters, the opposition said it would contest the results.

“This situation, if allowed to go unchallenged and uncorrected, would seriously damage the essence of the electoral process and the substance of democracy in Ghana,” the New Patriotic Party said in a draft statement that was emailed to reporters.

The opposition has accused Mahama of rigging the polls because of problems with fingerprinting devices that forced the elections to be extended by a second day.

The election was declared free and fair by observers of the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

Police in the capital Accra fired tear gas to disperse opposition protesters from outside the commission’s offices on Sunday evening. Tanks guarded the electoral commission and roads around the offices were barricaded by police as the results were announced.

Read more at The Guardian Nigeria.

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