Ghana Supreme Court rules in favour of Mahama

The Supreme Court in Ghana has dismissed an appeal by the opposition to annul President John Mahama's election victory.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) had alleged that Mr Mahama won the election fraudulently, a charge his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party denied. The NPP had asked the court to cancel about four million votes, alleging the result was tampered with to guarantee Mr Mahama victory in the first round of the election.

The NDC argued that any mistakes made by polling station officials while recording ballots was not an attempt to subvert democracy, and there were insufficient grounds for the court to overturn the result.

The court ruled that President Mahama had been "validly elected" after beating the NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo by 50.7% to 47.7% in the December 2012 election.

NPP leader Nana Akufo-Addo said he was disappointed but accepted the verdict and urged his supporters to do likewise.