The main challenger in Ghana's presidential election has said he is confident of victory but called on supporters to give the electoral commission more time to do its work.
Nana Akufo-Addo spoke to supporters to Accra Thursday as the electoral commission slowly released provisional results from Wednesday's presidential and parliamentary elections via Twitter.
On Friday, two respected news stations, Joy FM and Citi FM, said Akufo-Addo has won with an absolute majority over President John Mahama, Reuters reported
Joy FM's website showed Akufo-Addo winning with 53 percent of the vote with Mahama at 45.15 percent, based on a count of 217 constituencies out of 275 in total.
Citi FM gave Akufo-Addo 54.8 percent based on 190 constituencies.
The main opposition NPP party, citing its own tabulations, has declared Akufo-Addo the winner, and five other opposition candidates have followed suit. However, incumbent Mahama and his ruling NDC party have not conceded defeat.
The electoral commission said it believes the electronic transmission of results from polling centers has been compromised and is only releasing results when it receives physical documents from the field.
"The duty we owe the people of Ghana is not to declare results quickly but to declare accurate results that reflect will of the ppl," the commission tweeted.
Calls have mounted on social media for the electoral commission to speed up the vote-counting and declare the final results. Akufo-Addo appealed to his supporters to remain calm.
Mahama is seeking a second term as leader of the West African country, a major exporter of oil, gold and cocoa.
Akufo-Addo, a former foreign minister, has seized on Ghana's current economic woes as a campaign theme, accusing Mahama and the NDC of incompetence.
Mahama's term has been overshadowed by the plunge in global oil prices, which reduced government revenues and contributed to soaring inflation. The government accepted a $918 million bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Ghana is considered one of the most stable democracies in Africa, having witnessed several peaceful transfers of power since 1992.
VOA's Peter Clottey and Francisca Kakra Forson contributed to this report from Accra.
