Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Electoral Commission, let me welcome you all to this meeting. Without a doubt, the road to today has been long and arduous for all concerned, but by God’s grace we have finally arrived and the purpose of this meeting is to declare the winner of the presidential run-off election in which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP and Professor John E. Atta Mills of the NDC were the candidates. I wish to commend these two most able and fine gentlemen for having personally conducted themselves all along in a manner befitting the high which were seeking. Ladies and gentlemen, a few days back I stated that the results from 229 constituencies out of the 230 constituencies of the country had failed to produce an outright winner , so it had become necessary to conduct the run-off education in the Tain Constituency could not take place on 28 December. You may recall that as at that time, the cumulative result of the run-off election stood at, Nana A. D. Akufo-Addo, 4, 478, 411, that is, four million, four hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and eleven, representing 49.87 per cent of the valid votes cast. John E. Atta Mills, 4, 501, 466, representing 50.13 per cent of the valid votes cast. Let me emphasize that in compiling those results, contrary to what we have since been hearing from some quarters, nothing was deducted from, or added to, the number of votes obtained by either the NPP or NDC in the Ashanti Region or the Volta Region. What I did indicate was that the NDC had complained about the result of certain constituencies in the Ashanti Region and the NPP had similarly complained about the result from certain constituencies in Volta Region. I did also say that if evidence was produced in support of any such complaint, it will be examined on its merit and any relevant findings would be factored into the final declaration of the result. Ladies and gentlemen, the commission has since met to examine materials submitted by both the NDC and the NPP in the nature of evidence to support their claims and our findings are as follows: The NDC failed to submit complete sets of polling station by polling station declaration of result forms to enable a re-examination of the collated figures for the constituencies in the Ashanti Region that they complained about. In respect of materials submitted by the NPP in the nature of evidence, the commission found out that: (1) some of the issues raised border on criminality and therefore fall outside the competence of the Electoral Commission, (2) in the purely electoral matters, the commission did not find the evidence provided to be sufficient to invalidate the result. In view of these findings about the complaints of the two parties, the results as previously tallied from 229 constituencies remain unchanged. Accordingly, the result of the run-off in the Tain Constituency which was held on 2nd January 2009, have been added to the national tally. Having done so, the final results of the presidential run-off election as compiled by the Electoral Commission are as follows: Nana A. D. Akufo-Addo, 4, 480, 446 representing 49.77 per cent of the valid vote cast. John E. Atta Mills, 4, 521, 032, representing 50.23 per cent of the valid vote cast. The total valid vote cast, 9, 001, 478, total rejected votes, 92, 886. To the total votes cast, 9, 094, 364, the total registered voters stood at 12, 472, 758. The percentage turnout is 72.91 per cent and the percentage of rejected votes 1.02. Ladies and gentlemen, on the basis of the official results given, it is my duty to declare John E. Atta Mills the president-elect of the republic of Ghana. Transcribed by Malik Abass Daabu