Il Nuovo Postiglione - Ghana opposition claims winning presidential election

Saturday's election emerged as a contest between National Democratic Congress (NDC) party's Mahama and ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who fought to distance himself from discontent over government policies and high living costs.

Ghana's struggling economy dominated the election, after the west Africa gold and cacao producer faced a debt default, devaluation and high inflation, a crisis that ended in a $3 billion IMF bailout.

Voters were choosing a successor to Bawumia's boss, President Nana Akufo-Addo, who steps down after serving the maximum of two four-year terms. They also elected a new parliament.

NDC spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told reporters the party's internal review of results showed Mahama had won 56.3 percent of the vote against 41.3 percent for Bawumia.

"It is very clear the people of this country have voted for change," Gyamfi said.

Local broadcaster ChannelOne TV said its tally of results with 42 of Ghana's 276 constituencies counted showed Mahama was ahead of Bawumia.

Political parties have agents at every polling station to observe and tally the initial vote counts before the ballots are sent for official collation by the election commission.

Earlier, Commission Deputy Commissioner Bossman Asare told reporters tallying was still ongoing and regional results had yet to arrive at the national centre.

The commission had said official results were likely due by Tuesday.

Bawumia was also due to speak to the media on Sunday.

Voting went ahead mostly in calm. But one person was shot dead in the north, while another was shot and killed in the central region, Ghana police said.

With a history of democratic stability, Ghana's two main parties, the NPP and NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party politics in 1992.

Using the slogan "Break the 8" -- a reference to two terms in power -- Bawumia sought to lead the NPP to an unprecedented third term. But he struggled to break away from criticism of Akufo-Addo's economic record.

Though inflation slowed from more than 50 percent to around 23 percent, and other macro-economic indicators are stabilising, economic struggles were still a clear election issue for many.

That frustration opened the way for a comeback challenge from Mahama, who was president from 2012 to 2017 but since failed twice in presidential bids.

M.Lombardi--INP