Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo wins second term by slim margin

The Ghanaian electoral commission on Wednesday declared incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo the winner of the country’s presidential election.

Seventy-six-year-old Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) beat his opponent and predecessor John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with 51.59 per cent of the votes.

More than 13 million ballots were cast out of a total electorate of 17 million and across 38,000 polling stations throughout the country. Voters also chose 275 lawmakers for the national parliament.

Five people were reportedly killed during the election just as the process was mired by accusations of fraud before the official results were released.

But Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana Jean Adukwei Mensa commended the commission’s workers for operating the smooth conduct of the poll.

Although the results of one constituency remained disputed, Mensa said that even if all remaining votes went for Mahama, it would not change the overall outcome.

Specifically, Akufo-Addo scored 6,730,413 or 51.59 per cent of total votes while Mahama received 6,214,889 or 47.36 per cent of total votes.

Mensa said, “On the basis of the foregoing election results and by the powers vested in me as the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana and the interim officer of the election, it is my duty and honour to declare Nana Akufo-Addo as president-elect of the Republic of Ghana.”

But Mahama on Tuesday accused Akufo-Addo of showing “credentials that are very undemocratic” and harnessing the military to sway the outcome.

“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,” the 62-year-old former president said.

Akufo-Addo and Mahama had on Friday signed a peace pact.