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Ghanaian Media Declares Opposition Candidate Winner of Presidential Election

Ghanaian Media Declares Opposition Candidate Winner of Presidential Election
folder_openAfrica... access_time7 years ago
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Local Editor

Two local media outlets in Ghana claimed that main opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo has won the country's presidential election.

Ghanaian Media Declares Opposition Candidate Winner of Presidential Election

The private radio stations Joy FM and Citi FM said on Friday that Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party [NPP] candidate, gained an absolute majority over incumbent President John Mahama from the National Democratic Congress [NDC] in the election, which was held on Wednesday.

The country's electoral commission has yet to begin releasing official results.
The count is proceeding at a slow pace and the electoral agency said it needed 72 hours since the closing of the polls to publish final results.

"Please be patient," commission head Charlotte Osei told reporters on Thursday, adding, "Accuracy is more important than speed."

The two local media sources, however, said Akufo-Addo had won between 53-55 percent of the vote, and Mahama around 45 percent.

Akufo-Addo, 72, who served as attorney general and foreign minister in the past, had failed in two previous bids for the post of president, in 2008 and 2012.

The 57-year-old Mahama is running for a second term as president.

While the election day itself was relatively peaceful, there are fears that the delay in declaring the result could stoke tensions.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers "condemned" Akufo-Addo after the challenger claimed he had beaten Mahama.

The election observers urged "all political parties and citizens to be law-abiding and to allow the electoral commission to complete its work."

Ghana is believed to be one of Africa's most stable countries. Its two main political parties, the NDC with 146 parliamentary seats and the NPP with 121, regularly hold peaceful and highly competitive elections.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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