Opposition challenge

Ghana's supreme court has begun hearing a petition contesting the election victory of President John Mahama in December 2012.

The petitioners include the presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo, his running mate Mahamudu Bawumia and national party chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey.

Lamptey told DW's radio show Africalink "we are challenging the conduct of the whole election process. We are saying that a number of things happened in places that were illegal."

He said he and his supporters had evidence to show that in 2,000 polling stations, "more votes were counted than balloted papers were issued."

The NPP wants more than 4.67 million valid votes to be annulled and Akufo-Addo declared the winner.

Official results said Mahama, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), won 50.7 per cent of the vote while Akufo-Addo received 47.74 per cent.

The NDC has denied allegations of fraud.

DW correspondent Isaac Kaledzi was in court and reports that there was a huge security presence with party supporters banned from the premises.

The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday after a request for a postponement because of missing documents.

On hearing of the delay to the start of substantive proceedings, one member of the public in Accra told DW "we are all just praying and hoping that something good will come, because at the end of the day we are all Ghanaians and we need peace in this nation."

Proceedings were expected to last for months in a country seen as one of the few stable democracies in West Africa. Mahama, who was sworn in on January 7, was not scheduled to appear.

International observers said the election four months ago was free, fair and transparent and the poll passed off peacefully despite technical problems that forced voting into a second day.

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