Incumbent President John Mahama of Ghana has been declared winner of the presidential election.
A report from a Nigerian observer of the election, Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, said: “At 9:50 p.m. on Sunday 9th December 2012, Dr. Afari Gyan, the Chair of Ghana’s Electoral Commission declared President John Mahama winner of the December 7th election with 50.70 per cent of the votes cast, while his main opponent scored 47.74 per cent. Over eleven million people voted with the huge turnout of 79.43 per cent of the electorate.”
Dr. Ibrahim works for the Centre for Democracy and Development in Nigeria.
In a piece shortly before the official announcement, Dr Ibrahim had predicted Mahama’s victory.
According to Ibrahim: “Sunday afternoon and evening have been extremely tense as all Ghanaians await the formal declaration of the results of the presidential election.
” Most media reports had shown that President John Mahama was the first touch winner of the 2012 elections with slightly over 50 per cent while the contest had slightly below 49 per cent with most of the votes counted.
“The Electoral Commission has, however, not yet made the announcement and the media estimates were tracked through official Electoral Commission reports from the constituencies which showed that the President has won statistically.”