Ghana's Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the opposition to annul President John Mahama's narrow victory in last year's disputed election.

The NPP had alleged that Mr Mahama won the election fraudulently, a charge his NDC party denied.

However, the court ruled that he had been "validly elected" after beating the NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo by 50.7% to 47.7% in the December 2012 election.

Ghana is generally seen as a beacon of democracy in the region.

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.

'Spellbound'

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

Mr Akufo-Addo had previously pledged to respect the court's decision.

Mr Mahama was inaugurated in January.

Ghanaians have been spellbound by the eight-month case, following it closely on radio and television, our reporter says.

Court cases are not usually beamed into the homes of people, he says.

The NPP had asked the court to scrap some four million votes, alleging the result was tampered with to guarantee Mr Mahama victory in the first round of the election.

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) party argued that any mistakes made by polling station officials while recording ballots was not an attempt to subvert democracy, and there were insufficient grounds for the court to overturn the result.