Ghana’s Opposition Leader Mahama Officially Wins Presidential Election

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After voters punished the government’s high living costs and economic management, Ghana’s opposition leader John Mahama won the election on Monday, easily defeating the ruling party candidate.

Mahama won 56 percent of the votes in Saturday’s presidential ballot, compared to the ruling party candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who secured 41 percent, the electoral commission said in announcing official results.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by former president Mahama, whose last term saw the worst economic turbulence in years, an IMF bailout, and a debt default, came back to power eight years later.

In his party’s Accra office, supporters blew horns and whistles as Mahama described some of the darkest times in our administration.

If we don’t fulfill the aspirations of our people, “this mandate also serves as a constant reminder of what fate awaits us.”

Bawumia, a former central banker, had already quickly conceded defeat on Sunday, acknowledging Ghanaians wanted change after the government failed to shake off widespread frustration.

Bawumia also said Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party had won the parliamentary vote in Saturday’s election. The parliament’s official results are still being recorded.

Mahama, 66, had previously failed twice to secure the presidency but in Saturday’s election, he managed to tap into expectations of change among Ghanaians.

Back on track&nbsp,

John Dramani Mahama, the nominee for president of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), celebrates after the Ghanaian Electoral Commission declares him the winner of the 2024 presidential elections held in Accra on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Nipah Dennis / AFP).

He promised to “reset” Ghana, usher in economic revival and renegotiate parts of the country’s $3 billion IMF accord.

In his acceptance speech, Mahama promised reforms and “severe” measures to bring Ghana back on track.

The departure from the current administration has caused our beloved nation to plunge into the depths, he said.

“I am certain that we shall win the battle”.

With a history of democratic stability, Ghana’s two major parties, the NPP and NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party politics in 1992.

But Ghana’s economic woes dominated the 2024 election after the continent’s top gold producer and world’s second-largest cocoa exporter went through a debt crisis, the default and currency devaluation.

Turnout for Saturday’s election was 60.9 percent, down from 79 percent in the 2020 election, results showed.

With the slogan “Break the 8,” which refers to two, four-year terms in power, Bawumia intended to give the NPP an unprecedented third mandate. But he struggled to break from criticism of Akufo-Addo’s economic record.

While inflation slowed from more than 50 percent to around 23 percent, and other indicators stabilised, economic concerns were still a clear election issue for most Ghanaians.

When Mahama first seized the presidency in 2012 while he was serving as vice president and John Atta Mills passed away, that frustration caused him to resurrect.

The former president also faced criticism from those who recall his government’s own financial struggles, particularly the severe power blackouts that he experienced while in office.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Mahama on his victory and praised the country’s leaders for a “peaceful and transparent process.”

He said the United States looked forward to “working closely with President-elect Mahama”.