ACCRA: Ghana’s former president John Dramani Mahama won the country’s presidential election on Sunday after his opponent Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat.
Defeat in the election ended eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo.
For Mahama, president from 2012-2017, it was his third attempt to reclaim the nation’s top post after falling short in 2016 and 2020 elections.
“The people of Ghana have spoken, the people have voted for change at this time and we respect it with all humility,” Bawumia said in a press conference flanked by party officials.
In what was a speedy concession with official vote tallies still coming in, Bawumia said he had called National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Mahama to congratulate him.
Blaring horns, waving flags and cheering, Mahama supporters were already celebrating outside the party campaign headquarters in the capital Accra.
Mahama has yet to speak publicly since Bawumia’s concession.
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But on his X account, Mahama confirmed he received Bawumia’s congratulatory call over his “emphatic victory”.
Ghana’s economic woes dominated the election, after the continent’s top gold producer and world’s No. 2 cacao exporter went through a crisis of default and currency devaluation, ending with a $3 billion IMF bailout.
Earlier, NDC spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told reporters the party’s internal review of results showed Mahama won 56.3 percent of the vote against 41.3 percent for Bawumia.
Political parties had agents at polling stations to observe and tally the initial vote counts before the ballots were sent for official collation by the election commission.
Earlier, Commission Deputy Commissioner Bossman Asare told reporters regional results had yet to arrive at the national centre.
With a history of democratic stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the NPP and NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party politics in 1992. – AFP
