President declared Ghana winner

President John Mahama in Accra. 9 Dec 2012John Mahama took office in July after the unexpected death of President John Atta Mills

Ghana’s presidential election has been won by incumbent President John Mahama, the electoral commission has announced.

The electoral commission said that Mr Mahama had won 50.7% against his NPP rival Nana Akufo-Addo on 47.74%.

The announcement came hours after the opposition accused the governing party of conspiring with commission staff to fix Friday’s poll.

President Mahama urged “all leaders of all political parties to respect the voice of the people”.

“The voice of the people is the voice of God,” he added.

Police in the capital Accra fired tear gas to disperse opposition protesters from outside the commission’s offices.

Roads around the electoral offices were also barricaded by police as the results were announced.

“Ladies and gentlemen, based on the results given, I declare John Dramani Mahama president-elect,” electoral commission chief Kwadwo Afari-Gyan told journalists.

Ghana, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is regarded as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Mr Akufo-Addo lost the 2008 presidential poll by one percentage point, but accepted the result.

Police outside electoral commission in Accra. 9 Dec 2012Police with armoured vehicles have been protecting the electoral commission offices

However, on Sunday his party said they had “enough concrete evidence” to prove that he actually won this year’s election.

“The ruling NDC conspired with certain EC staff in constituencies across the country to falsify the election results and thereby abuse the mandate of the people of Ghana,” the party said.

“It was this planned, systematic stealing of votes at the collation level that was, thankfully, discovered in time.”

The party cited discrepancies between initial tally sheets and the results reported in the media.

Glitches with a new finger-printing system meant that voting continued into Saturday in some parts of the country.

However, observers said the election had passed off largely peacefully.