Opposition Candidate Wins Ghana’s Presidential Vote

Meanwhile, the NDC has indicated it may challenge the results of the election in court.

Elections in Ghana have been peaceful since the country transitioned from military rule to democracy in 1992. Twice since 2000 voters have kicked out the government of the day.

Mr Mahama fought Wednesday’s election against the backdrop of an economy that has slowed since he took power in 2013, in part because of lower global prices for the west African country’s exports of gold, oil and cocoa.

In a victory speech on Friday, Akufo-Addo, a former foreign minister, acknowledged the pressure to deliver for impatient voters.

(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba). A man prepares kebabs under election posters outside his house in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016.

With the final results announced, Akufo-Addo received 55,716,026 votes which is 53.8 per cent as against 4,713,277, making up 44,40 per cent by the incumbent president, John Mahama.

Mahama says the government has improved people’s lives and built fresh infrastructure despite the fiscal crisis, which it says it has largely resolved with the help of continuing International Monetary Fund aid.

Online site GhanaWeb gave results for 160 constituencies and said Akufo-Addo had 55.8 percent with Mahama on 42.5 percent. Minor candidates took the other votes. The president of Ghana is president for every single Ghanaian without discrimination, malice or ill-will to any ethnic group, political or religious affiliation.

In his third bid for the top job, Akufo-Addo blasted Ghana’s poor economic growth rate – estimated at 3.3 percent in 2016, the lowest rate for two decades – and laid out a radical vision to transform the country’s economy.

The announcement confirmed the projections of local media, which have predicted from provisional results and result collated from polling stations that the opposition candidate was on course to unseating the incumbent.

The Electoral Commission, under its new leadership, with Charlotte Osei in the Chair, is to be congratulated for organising this credible election. May their souls continue to rest in ideal peace in the bosom of the Almighty until the last day of the Resurrection when we shall all meet again.

Ghana police said a NPP supporter was beaten to death, with six others left in critical condition in clashes between supporters of the two main parties after a rally in the north on Monday.

“We want to assure you that we can not change the results in any way”.

“We need change in Ghana because things are very hard”, said Stephen Antwi Boasiako, a taxi driver in the capital, Accra, who said he can barely afford the taxes and insurance for his vehicle.