Ghanaians still have to wait till Friday, and perhaps beyond, to know who succeeds John Kuffuor as President - even with the election already held twice this month.

Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) Chairman, Kwado Afari-Dyan, announced on Tuesday that the run-off ballot on Sunday again failed to pick either Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Party (NDC).

Mills leads with 22,000 votes, scoring 4,501,466 votes (50.13 per cent), Addo 4,478,411 (49.87 per cent).

Results in the Ashanti and Volta Regions have been disputed, and voters in Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, who could not cast their ballots on Sunday because of late arrival of materials, will now vote on January 2.

The results declared are those of 229 of the total 230 constituencies.

Afari-Dyan explained that the delay in announcing the results, which kept even foreign and local observers inside the ECG's conference room on edge, was necessitated by the need to iron out differences between the parties, which had maintained tough positions since Sunday, alleging malpractices against each other in their strongholds.

In the first election held on December 7 with eight contestants, including an independent candidate, Akufo-Addo outscored Mills polling 4,222,261 votes (49.43 per cent) to 4,070,535 (47.65 per cent).

Sunday's results came out of a total 8,979,877 valid votes, out of 9,072,363 total cast - or 72.74 per cent turn out of the 12,472,758 registered voters.

That left 92,486 or 1.02 per cent votes invalid.

The result brought by the NPP from the Abravo Region was rejected. The region has a voting population of 40,000. The NDP won the fisrt ballot in Abravo by 52 per cent while the NPP got 48 per cent.

Afari-Dyan acknowledged that the NDC raised serious concerns against the results, particularly in Kumasi and other parts of the Ashanti Region, the home base of Kuffuor.

He said the NPP did the same in some constituencies in the Volta Region, the base of former President Jerry Rawlings, a member of the NDC.

"We have always said that the name of the game is evidence. And today, the NDC provided some evidence that we think there is a need to audit some of the results of the election in the Ashanti Region, and the NPP has promised to do same in regards to some of the elections in the Volta Region," Afari-Dyan added.

He said the closeness of the result makes it necessary to conduct a fresh vote in Tain to clear any doubt about the eventual winner, since votes there could affect the outcome of the election.

Like the morning dew under the first sunlight, the tension that had enveloped Ghana since Monday disappeared in a dramatic manner after the statement.

As happened on December 10 when the words of Afari-Dyan doused a similar tension arising from a related allegation, supporters of the NDC, who had kept vigil at the EC's office in Accra, turned their angry chants into celebration songs.

They said their candidate did not lose after all.

Before then they had carried out ceaseless demonstrations, denouncing alleged attempts by the ruling NPP to connive with the ECG to doctor the result which put Mills in the lead on Monday.

Heavily armed security operatives, in full combat gear, who displayed unusual calmness, joked with the agitators, instead of attacking them, thus contributing to the carnival-like atmosphere.