The electoral commission in Ghana had on Monday declared ex-president and main opposition leader John Dramani Mahama winner of Saturday’s presidential election with 56.55% of the ballot, according to provisional results.
Mahamudu Bawumia, Mahama’s main rival and the ruling party’s presidential candidate had prior to the announcement, already conceded defeat on Sunday in both the presidential and legislative elections to allay tensions.
The electoral commission said it counted votes from 267 out of the 276 constituencies in the country. The voter turnout was 60.9%.
Mahama, aged 66, is making a comeback after serving as Ghana’s president from 2012 to 2016. He had described Bawumia as the figurehead of the policies that led to Ghana’s worst economic crisis in a generation.
In an interview with Reuters before the election, Mahama said he would like to renegotiate terms of a $3-billion International Monetary Fund bailout gotten last year to restructure the country’s debt.
The president-elect also promised to ease business regulations, establish a 24-hour triple-shift work system, authorise tax reforms and invest $10 billion in refurbishing and modernising infrastructure.
Akufo-Addo’s government had suffered serious set backs when the
economic and cost-of-living crisis in Ghana (the world’s notable producer of cocoa, gold and oil) kept spiralling, increasing the calls for a change in leadership.
