Challenger Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday won Ghana’s national election, tapping into an electorate fed up with a sputtering economy and ready for change.
The erudite 72-year-old human rights lawyer cruised to victory, winning 53.8 percent of votes, according to the country’s election agency.
“I will not let you down. I will do all in my power to live up to your hopes and expectations,” Akufo-Addo said to an ecstatic crowd at his house in the country’s capital, Accra. “I will do my best to serve your interests and put our country back on the path of progress and prosperity.”
Photo: AP
Ghanaian President John Mahama conceded defeat in the evening, two days after a hotly contested race that was seen as a test of the country’s democracy in a region plagued by dictators and coups.
Mahama called to congratulate opposition leader Akufo-Addo, whose New Patriotic Party supporters had been gathering for hours outside his house after local media gave him a clear lead following the Wednesday vote.
“Yes, he has conceded defeat,” George Lawson, of Mahama’s New Democratic Congress party, told reporters.
Akufo-Addo had campaigned on a platform promising to boost growth and deliver jobs.
“The president of Ghana is president for every single Ghanaian,” Akufo-Addo said, as fireworks popped overhead and thousands of people cheered in the streets outside his house.
Akufo-Addo’s supporters — almost all in head-to-toe white, a symbol of victory — had been dancing on his lawn for hours in anticipation of his victory speech.
At one point, they broke out in an enthusiastic a cappella rendition of Ghana’s national anthem.
“We have won,” said Hajia Mustafa, a 44-year-old trader, flashing a wide smile. “I have my president, I have my choice.”
The high-stakes race between Akufo-Addo and Mahama has been seen as a litmus test of the stability for one of Africa’s most secure democracies.
However, fears of widespread violence erupting during the election never materialized, with a generally peaceful voting day followed by calm as the official results trickled in.
“I think Ghanaians should be extraordinarily proud of themselves,” said Johnnie Carson, of the National Democratic Institute, an election observer.
“Ghana has distinguished itself in the last two-and-a-half decades with integrity and transparency,” said Carson, a former US ambassador to several African nations.
“It is a gold standard for democracy in Africa,” he said.
Yet, while the EU Election Observation Mission said that Ghana “largely escaped the violence many had feared,” it pointed to other areas of concern.
“The misuse of incumbency, including unequal access to state media, and unaccountable campaign financing were areas Ghana could address in the future,” the mission said in a statement.
Akufo-Addo is to serve a four-year term in the once-booming country that has seen its economy slow, currency deteriorate and inflation soar.
Mahama, who rose to power in 2012 after beating Akufo-Addo, had urged voters to “stay the course,” promising to deliver more infrastructure projects.
In his third bid for the top job, Akufo-Addo blasted Ghana’s poor economic growth rate — estimated at 3.3 percent this year, the lowest rate in two decades — and laid out a radical vision to transform the country’s economy.
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