Ghana: Narrow lead for opposition candidate

ACCRA, Ghana – Opposition leader John Atta Mills was leading in Ghana's presidential election Monday, and his supporters poured into the streets to claim victory after a local radio station said he would be the West African nation's next leader.

Official results of Sunday's runoff are expected Tuesday.

But on Monday the Electoral Commission certified results from 200 of 233 constituencies giving Atta Mills 4,065,883 votes, or 52.1 percent of counted ballots, compared with 47.9 percent, or 3,737,655 votes, for the governing party's Nana Akufo-Addo.

The influential and independent Radio Joy FM announced it "has projected Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress as Ghana's next president." It predicted that Atta Mills would win with 50.47 percent of votes.

Singing and dancing supporters of the academic spilled into the streets to declare their victory.

The governing New Patriotic Party challenged the radio station's call, with national chairman Peter Mac-Manu telling a news conference it was "highly speculative and premature, especially in the face of the challenges to both the process and many of its outcomes."

Credits: Associated Press