Ghana's presidential election stood on a knife edge on Tuesday as the country's electoral commission said the difference in votes between the two candidates was so small that it was unable to announce a result yet.
With only 23,055 votes separating opposition challenger John Atta Mills from the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo, the Electoral Commission of Ghana has decided that it cannot decide on a winner until voting takes place in a constituency in which voting failed to take place last Sunday.
The chairman of the commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told a news conference which was broadcast - and webcast live on the internet - that the delay would also give the body an opportunity to investigate allegations of voting irregularities in the Ashanti and Volta regions of Ghana.
He said the commission's figures for 229 of the country's 230 constituencies showed that Atta Mills had won 4,501,466 votes, or 50.13 percent of the total. Nana Akufo-Addo had received 4,478,411 votes, or 49.87 percent.
As a result of a mix-up over ballot papers, there was no ballot in the Tain constituency of Ghana's Brong Ahafo region.
Afari-Gyan told the news conference: "The results are so close that the result of the Tain constituency could affect the eventual winner." He said the constituency would vote on Friday, January 2, and this would "hopefully make it possible for us to determine the ultimate winner."
Afari-Gyan also said Atta Mills's National Democratic Congress (NDC) had provided some evidence of alleged "inconsistencies" in voting in the Ashanti region, and Akufo-Addo's New Patriotic Party had promised to supply evidence about concerns it had about the Volta region. (See Run-Off Hits Major Hitch)
These allegations would be probed and "the outcome... will be factored into the final determination of the winner."
The commission's announcement followed a day of rising tensions in Ghana as party and electoral officials worked through the details of disputes, delaying by many hours the scheduled announcement of the election result.
