Ghanaian voters head to the polls for presidential election

World Today

Ghanaian voters head to the polls for presidential election

In less that 24 hours, voters in Ghana head to the polls to elect a new president.

With multiple candidates in the running and 16 million voters, results are not expected until the weekend. CCTV’s Katerina Vittozzi reports.

Polling stations in Ghana open nationwide at 7 a.m. local time and voters have a choice of seven presidential candidates.

Among them, the incumbent president, John Dramani Mahama, as well as his long-standing rival Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party.

To win, a candidate has to garner more than 50 percent of the vote. The two also ran in 2012.

Although Mahama won, the opposition refused to concede defeat, and said that the vote count was wrong.

This year, independent, non-partisan observers will be conducting a partial vote tabulation, or PVT, from 1,500 polling stations.

This sample should give a good indication of the actual results.

Voters will also be choosing new members of parliament 275 in all. Final results will be announced by the weekend at the very latest.