Ghana's main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sunday asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to suspend the announcement of Friday's presidential election over alleged electoral malpractices.

National Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, addressing a press conference at the party's national headquarters here, accused the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of falsifying election results from across the country.

He gave a litany of constituencies, including Dome-Kwabenya, Osu-Klottey in Accra, and Savelugu (Northern Region) where the NPP alleged the NDC had tampered with electoral results and inflating ballot figures.

"Based on the evidence available, we are calling on the EC not to go ahead with the declaration of the presidential election until all the allegations have been investigated," Obetsebi- Lamptey said.

The NPP Chairman called for an immediate meeting with the Chairman of the EC and other political parties to reconcile figures particularly relating to the presidential poll which he believed had been falsified.

He accused some electoral officials of colluding with the NDC to tamper with ballot figures, saying the incident could seriously call into question the credibility of the country's electoral process.

Asked whether the party intended to resort to the courts to address the grievances, Obetsebi-Lamptey said that was not the first option, but asked the EC to take at least three days to conduct investigations into the matter.

"Jaw-jaw is better than war-war we are committed to resolving the issues through proper investigations into these matters," Obetsebi-Lamptey stressed.

He appealed to its teeming supporters nationwide to be calm and not resort to any violence as the leadership of the party sought appropriate ways to deal with the situation.

At a separate press conference, the General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketiah dismissed the NPP allegations as "vile propaganda", and asked the party's teeming supporters to remain calm as the EC prepared to announce the results of Friday's polls.

Asiedu Nketiah said the NDC had full confidence in the ability of the EC to organize a credible election as it had done in the past.

He said the organization of elections and declaration of results were the constitutional duties of the EC and its officials and that any person who had any concerns about the election must direct his concerns there.

He assured Ghanaians and members of the international community that Ghana was a peaceful country, and the security agencies were capable of carrying out their duties.

Ghanaians voted on Friday and Saturday to elect a president and 275 members of parliament.

Results, which started trickling in on Friday evening through to Sunday, put the incumbent John Dramani Mahama slightly ahead of his closest challenger, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The country's Electoral Commission is yet to come out with official results for the weekend's polls which would be due within 72 hours after official close of polls.