Tanks surround electoral commission in Ghana

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) ? Armored tanks surrounded Ghana's electoral commission and police barricaded the road around the electoral offices, as officials prepared to announce provisional results from this week's presidential election.

Police dispersed protesters with stun guns and tear gas late Sunday, after youths made it behind police lines. The protesters want the electoral body to delay announcing results until allegations of vote-rigging have been investigated.

In Ghana's tight presidential election race, official results have not yet been announced, but local media have tipped President John Dramani Mahama as the winner while the party of opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo accuses vote rigging.

The normally peaceful nation of Ghana is on tenterhooks, after technical glitches with biometric machines used to identify voters during Friday's poll forced officials to extend voting into a second day.

The opposition New Patriotic Party is accusing the ruling party of having rigged the vote and on Sunday, scores of opposition supporters took to Accra's streets, carrying branches and singing. The party called on the national electoral body to carry out an audit, and asked to withhold final results until an investigation is completed.

"Considering the closeness of the polls this error is very significant and goes to the heart of the credibility of the results. Indeed, we have enough concrete evidence to show that the 2012 presidential election was won by our candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo," said Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, chairman of the party.

People in Ghana's capital have been glued to their radios since Friday night as local media announce results from polling stations. International observers endorsed the elections, calling them credible despite delays because of machines used to identify voters through their fingerprints failed to work in numerous precincts, pushing voting into a second day Saturday.

"There were hiccups but not such that would grossly undermine the result of the election," said former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who led the delegation from ECOWAS, the bloc representing nations in West Africa.

"All of Africa was looking at Ghana to make sure that they live up to their reputation and their name of being a mature democracy," said Ahmed Issak Hassan, head of an observer mission from the South Africa-based Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.

Ghana, a nation of 25 million, was once a troubled nation that suffered five coups and decades of stagnation, before turning a corner in the 1990s. It is now a pacesetter for the continent's efforts to become democratic. No other West African country has had so many elections deemed free and fair, a reputation that voters hold close to their hearts.

The incumbent Mahama, a former vice president, was catapulted into office in July after the unexpected death of President John Atta Mills. Before becoming vice president in 2009, the 54-year-old Mahama served as a minister and a member of parliament. He's also written an acclaimed biography, recalling Ghana's troubled past, called "My First Coup d'Etat."

Akufo-Addo is a former foreign minister and the son of one of Ghana's previous presidents. Akufo-Addo lost the last presidential election to Mills in 2008 by less than 1 percent. Both candidates are trying to make the case that they will use the nation's oil riches to help the poor.

Besides being one of the few established democracies in the region, Ghana also has the fastest-growing economy. Oil was discovered in 2007 and the country began producing it in December 2010. But a deep divide still exists between those benefiting from the country's oil, cocoa and mineral wealth, and those left behind financially.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tanks-surround-electoral-commission-ghana-211036805.html

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