(Bloomberg) -- The leader of Ghana’s main opposition party filed a petition to the nation’s Supreme Court challenging the outcome of the Dec. 7 presidential elections.
John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress’s candidate, got 47.4% of the vote and incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo 51.6%, the country’s electoral commission declared earlier this month. Mahama has described the result as “illegal” because the proper voter verification process wasn’t followed.
“The petition details serious violations of the 1992 Constitution by the Electoral Commission,” the NDC said in a statement on Wednesday. “It seeks among others, a declaration from the Supreme Court to the effect that the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 presidential election on Dec. 9 is unconstitutional, null and void.”
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The NDC will also challenge the allocation of about four parliamentary seats in the High Court. The elections ended in a hung parliament, with the ruling New Patriotic Party and the NDC each wining 137 seats, while one went to an independent candidate. Mahama said his party secured an outright majority, winning 140 seats.
The challenge against the outcome of the presidential vote is the second to be filed in the Supreme Court. Akufo-Addo, the then-opposition leader filed a petition to contest the Dec. 7, 2012 elections, which he lost to Mahama.
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