The electoral commissioner of Ghana has delayed the result of Sundays knife-edge presidential run-off until Friday, BBC online reports Tuesday evening.
Results in the Ashanti and Volta regions have been disputed and the Tain region, where the poll could not go ahead because of a shortage of voting-materials, will vote on Friday. Officials said the votes between the oppositions John Atta Mills and ruling partys Nana Akufo-Addo were so close one result could decide the outcome.
New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Mr Akufo-Addo gained the most votes in the first round earlier this month but did not pass the 50 per cent threshold needed for outright victory.
Electoral commission chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Mr Atta Mills had won 50,13 per cent of the vote, while Mr Akufo-Addo had taken 49,87 per cent.
This means just 23.055 votes divide the two candidates, out of a total cast of some 9 million.
The opposition has been disputing results awarded to the governing party from five constituencies in the Ashanti region. It is understood turnout in one area was recorded at 99 per cent – said by election experts to be unheard of – while there were also complaints dead people, children and foreign nationals had been listed among voters.
Mr Atta Mills served as vice-president under former leader Jerry Rawlings. The stakes have been raised in these elections because Ghana has just found oil, which is expected to start generating revenue in 2010.
