Ghana's opposition leader wins presidential election

Accra: The candidate of the largest opposition New Patriotic Party Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has won Ghana's closely contested presidential elections, official results released here on Friday by the electoral commission showed.

Akufo-Addo garnered 5,716,026 votes, or 53.85 per cent of the total valid votes cast, while his closest challenger, who is also the incumbent president John Dramani Mahama of the governing National Democratic Congress obtained 4,713,277 votes, or 44.40 per cent, Xinhua reported.

The five other candidates who contested Wednesday's presidential election in Ghana collectively polled less than two per cent of the total valid votes cast.