DAKAR — Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is presenting the Supreme Court evidence of polling fraud and irregularities to challenge results of this month's presidential contest, which election officials called in favor of incumbent President John Dramani Mahama by three percent of ballots cast.
Gabby Asare Okyere Darko, adviser to NPP candidate Akufo-Addo, says elections were rigged in favor of the incumbent.
“The results that were declared on December 9 are not the true reflection of the wishes of the majority of Ghanaians who voted on December 7 and December 8," said Darko, explaining that the official petition challenging the results draws on data gathered from more than 26,000 polling stations across the country. "We have discovered the scale of errors, irregularities and fraud — places voting without verification when the law was very clear that without the machine, don’t allow voting to take place.”
Election officials allowed some polling stations to reopen for a second day of voting after technical problems with new biometric voting machines caused long delays.
Ghana’s National Electoral Commission and international observers said that the elections were free and fair despite logistical issues.
According to the official results, Akufo-Addo earned 47.7 percent of the votes compared with Mahama’s 50.7 percent.
Ghanaian law says authorities have 21 days to respond to the NPP’s petition.
Ghana plans to swear in Mahama on January 7.