Ghanaian President John Mahama’s disputed victory in last year’s presidential election has been upheld by the country’s Supreme Court, drawing the highly-publicized eight-month case to a close.

A petition drawn up by the opposition New Patriotic Party alleging that President Mahama had won illegally was dismissed on Thursday after the court verdict concluded that the president had been “validly elected.”

In the December 2012 election, the National Democratic Congress party’s Mahama beat Nana Akufo-Addo by 50.7 percent to 47.7 percent.

Ghana has remained one of Africa’s most reputable countries known for conducting peaceful presidential elections since the early 1990s.  

As BBC reports:

The case was broadcast live on television and radio in a rare sign of judicial transparency in Africa, says the BBC's Akwasi Sarpong in Accra.

Nearly 30,000 security officers were deployed across Ghana to prevent any violence after the court verdict.

Crowds of governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters broke into songs of celebration when it was announced.

Mr Akufo-Addo said he was disappointed but would respect the decision of the nine judges.

Read the full story here.

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(Photo:Luc Gnago / Reuters)