Ghanaian politician Nana Akufo-Addo has won a second term as Ghana’s president.
Akufo-Addo defeated incumbent Mahama, winning 51.6% of the vote compared to Mahama’s 47.4%.
Akufo-Addo pledged to implement a $17bn programme to advance Ghana’s economy following the global pandemic. The lockdown affected the price of critical oil and cocoa exports, resulting in the first quarterly slump in nearly four decades.
Akufo-Addo that there is much on the line and no time for respite.
“There could be a tendency for an incumbent, who has just secured a second term, to take it easy and relax,” Akufo-Addo. “I am of a different character. I give you my word that I will continue to work very hard to build a prosperous and progressive Ghana, for which we yearn.”
While many celebrated Akufo-Addo’s win, opposition leaders have slammed the election, dismissing it as “flawed.”
“Overwhelming evidence available makes it impossible for us to accept this spurious and hurried conclusion,” Haruna Iddrisu, a member of parliament for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, said at a press conference. “We intend to take decisive and concrete steps, both with the presidential and parliamentary results, to overturn this brazen and shameless attack on our democracy.”
Former president Mahama mirrored Iddrisu’s views:
“You cannot use the military to try and overturn some of the results in constituencies that we have won. We will resist any attempts to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people,” he told reporters.
There are also reports that five people were killed in election-related violence in Ghana.
According to Al Jazeera, the Ghanaian Police Service recorded more than 60 incidents at Monday’s vote.
“Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five,” it said.
