Ghana opposition claims vote fraud, says its candidate won

The presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo dances during the final rally of the party in Accra on December 5, 2012. Photo/AFP

Ghana's main opposition party alleged Sunday a "pattern of fraud" in the country's tight presidential election and claimed it had evidence to show its candidate had won the vote.

"Indeed, we have enough concrete evidence to show that the 2012 presidential election was won by our candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo," the New Patriotic Party said in a statement laying out its claims of vote-rigging.

The statement alleged that "we have noticed a pattern of fraud, where substantial numbers of votes are either added to the NDC (National Democratic Congress) candidate or subtracted from the NPP presidential candidate."

It demanded an audit of collated vote figures as well as of data from the biometric verification machines used in the election before the results are officially announced.

Privately owned Joy News television, based on provisional results from 269 of 275 districts, said incumbent John Dramani Mahama of the NDC party garnered 50.66 percent of the vote and Akufo-Addo 47.76 percent.

The electoral commission was releasing results on its website, but the most recent numbers available included only 173 of 275 districts.

Those results put Mahama at 49.61 percent and Akufo-Addo at 48.9 percent.

A run-off vote is to be held on December 28 if no candidate receives more than 50 percent. There are a total of eight presidential candidates.