On August 29, 2013, Ghana’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal from then-opposition leader Akufo-Addo, who sought to overturn the narrow victory of John Mahama in the 2012 presidential election.
The NPP had alleged that Mr Mahama won the election fraudulently, a charge his NDC party denied.
In a 588-paged judgement, the court by a 5-4 majority decision justified why President Mahama was validly elected.
There were four and three consistent judges who voted against and for the annulment of more than two million votes due to what the petitioners described as gross and widespread irregularities recorded during the election.
Justices William Atuguba, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, Mr Justice N. S. Gbadegbe and Mrs Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo in an “overall” decision dismissed the petitioners claims for the annulment of a total of 3,931,339 votes due to electoral irregularities in the December 7 and 8, 2012 presidential election.
The dissenting justices who held the view there were issues to be settled with allegations of over voting, absence of presiding officers’ signature and voting without biometric verification were Mr Justice Julius Ansah, Ms Justice Rose Constance Owusu and Mr Justice Anin Yeboah.
They declined to declare the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo as the validly elected president, but held the view that the votes affected by these allegations must be annulled and a re-run held.
Akufo-Addo addressing NPP supporters and Ghanaians said he was disappointed but accepted the verdict and urged his supporters to do likewise.
Ghana is generally seen as a beacon of democracy in the region.
The case was broadcast live on television and radio in a rare sign of judicial transparency in Africa
Some 32,000 security officers were deployed across Ghana to prevent any violence.
After the verdict was announced, crowds of governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters emerged to stand on the court stairs, singing and waving white handkerchiefs.
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.
Mr Akufo-Addo said he would respect the decision of the nine judges.
“I urge all our supporters to accept the verdict – and in peace,” he said.
NDC general secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said he was happy with the verdict, as he knew the party had done nothing wrong.
The ruling hopefully ended the anxiety hanging over the country.
“Ghanaians have been spellbound by the hearings, as such cases are not usually beamed into the homes of people,” he said
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) had asked the court to scrap some 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.
Despite the legal challenge, Mr Mahama was inaugurated in January.
