Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has won re-election with 51.59% of the vote, beating his predecessor and old rival John Mahama, results from the election commission showed on Wednesday.
The results follow a contentious poll that both candidates had said they were leading based on their camps’ tallies. Five people were killed in election violence since Monday, the police said, marring what observers said was a well-organised vote.
Akufo Addo has promised to implement a $17 billion programme to boost Ghana’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic hit the price of key oil and cocoa exports, resulting in the first quarterly contraction in nearly 40 years.
He will be under pressure to rein in government spending that has pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio past 70% and prompted warnings from the International Monetary Fund.
Akufo-Addo fended off a hard-fought challenge from his predecessor winning 51.59% of the vote against old rival John Mahama with 47.37%. Mahama’s party said it rejected the results, calling the election “flawed” and “discredited.”
“My immediate task is to continue the process of reversing the effect COVID-19 might have had on our economy and our lives and put the nation on course for a full economic recovery and development,” Akufo-Addo said.
Supporters danced, screamed and waved flags at a conference hall in the capital Accra.
“There has been a lot of contentions and tensions from both the NPP and the NDC. But I am glad it has ended in peace,” said voter Amadu Salisu.
The Ghanaian Police Service said it had recorded over 60 incidents of violence since the morning of the election, resulting in five deaths and marring Ghana’s recent track record of mostly peaceful elections.
A European Union observer mission said the vote was well organised but “unregulated political finance, misuse of state resources and numerous instances of vote-buying resulted in an unlevel playing field.”
