Wednesday 12 December 2012

Ghana's opposition goes to court over presidential poll result

Ghana's main opposition party says  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% of the vote a move which has caused controversy amongst party supporters

After this was announced   the Democratic Congress (NDC) supporter  was stabbed in Accra by  Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

 However it is also reported that  his supporters have grown increasingly restless and embarked street protests and sometimes attacked journalists in the nation's capital.

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, said

"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".

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

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