Ben Ephson's Poll: Prez Mahama ahead with 52.2%

The 2012 Presidential election is not likely to see a run-off as a poll completed by renowned pollster Ben Ephson shows that the sitting president will garner enough votes to see him cross over the 50 per cent plus one vote line needed to win the elections.

According to the polls sighted by RadioXYZonline.com, President John Dramani Mahama is expected to sweep 52.2 per cent of the votes while his closest rival, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will win 44.7 per cent of the votes.

The remaining 5 parties and the independent presidential candidate are expected to take home 3.1 percent of the total valid votes cast.

According to Mr. Ephson, the poll has a 2 per cent margin of error. He had earlier stated that the election was a close fight between the two main political parties (NPP and NDC).

Details of the polls and its analysis are expected to be released on Tuesday in the Daily Dispatch.

Mr Ephson is well known for his polls, and since 1996, he has been releasing polls a few days to the elections.

His polls predicted a first round victory for Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008 but this was not to be as Nana Addo fell short of the required 50% plus one vote despite winning the first round with over a hundred thousand votes.

Mr. Ephson’s polls further predicted victory for the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills in the run-off of the 2008 elections.

His polls comes on the heels of various surveys putting either Nana Akufo-Addo or President Mahama slightly ahead of the other.