GHANA: Ghana opposition to challenge presidential poll result

Record ID: 213826

  • Title: GHANA: Ghana opposition to challenge presidential poll result
  • Date: 11th December 2012
  • Summary: ACCRA, GHANA (DECEMBER 11, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS DRESSED IN NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (NPP) COLOURS DANCING IN A PROCESSION NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (NPP) PROTESTERS CHANTING: "WE WANT JUSTICE, WE WANT JUSTICE, WE WANT JUSTICE" MORE OF DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNNAMED NPP SUPPORTER, SAYING: "We want justice, you can never achieve peace without justice, with justice you achieve peace. So we want justice, justice must be done. If we shall lose, we want to lose on a fair ground, and if we win, we win on a fair ground. Justice, justice, justice!" VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS ON TOP OF CARS DEMONSTRATORS DANCING IN A PROCESSION DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING BOARD READING, "NANA FOR PRESIDENT 2013" (SOUNDBITE) (Twi) UNNAMED OPPOSITION SUPPORTER, SAYING: "Today we want them to tell us that we will go for a second round in the elections. Otherwise if they don't want peace but confusion, we will really give them trouble. Without Akufo-Addo, there will be trouble in Ghana, we will not agree." DEMONSTRATORS DANCING DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING PICTURE OF NANA AKUFO-ADDO AND DR. MAHAMUDU BAWUMIA DEMONSTRATIONS SHOUTING (Twi) "THIEVES (REFERRING TO THE RULING PARTY), AWAY THIEVES AWAY, THIEVES AWAY" POSTER READING "NANA THE HERO" DEMONSTRATORS SINGING AND DANCING IN PRAISE OF AKUFO-ADDO
  • Embargoed: 26th December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8N2L086Z6I8MNE5HIDZPKF863
  • Story Text: Thousands of New Patriotic Party partisans rallied in support of their leader Nana Akufo-Addo, who is preparing to contest the election results in court, saying the vote was marred by irregularities.


    Several thousand main opposition supporters rallied in Ghana's capital Accra on Tuesday (December 11) as their party said it will challenge in court the results of Friday's (December 7) poll in which incumbent President John Dramani Mahama was declared winner with 50.7 percent of the vote.
    The New Patriotic Party (NPP), whose leader Nana Akufo-Addo, lost to Mahama, has said the vote was marred by irregularities.
    Around three thousand protesters danced their way through the capital's streets chanting slogans in support of their party.
    "We want justice, you can never achieve peace without justice, with justice, you achieve peace. So we want justice, justice must be done. If we shall lose, we want to lose on a fair ground, and if we win, we win on a fair ground. Justice, justice, justice!," said one opposition supporter.
    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". Ghana's residents like to say "Ghana in peace, not in pieces".
    "Today we want them to tell us that we will go for a second round in the elections. Otherwise if they don't want peace but confusion, we will really give them trouble. Without Akufo-Addo, there will be trouble in Ghana, we will not agree," said another opposition supporter at the rally.
    A contested election in 2008, in which Akufo-Addo lost by less than 1 percent, pushed the country to the brink of chaos, with disputes over results driving hundreds of people into the streets with clubs and machetes.
    This year's election was fraught with delays after hundreds of newly-introduced electronic fingerprint readers - used to identify voters - failed on Friday and forced some polling stations to reopen on Saturday (December 8) to clear the backlog.
    Security forces used teargas to disperse hundreds of supporters of the Akufo-Addo's New Patriotic Party protesting in front of the electoral commission building shortly before the results were declared.
    Neighbouring Ivory Coast tipped into civil war last year after a disputed 2010 poll and regional neighbours Mali and Guinea-Bissau have both suffered coups this year.
    gm/cr
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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