Ghana’s former President Mahama wins election
ACCRA, – Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama has staged a political comeback by winning the West African nation’s presidential election after his rival Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat on Sunday.
Now he has secured a huge comeback on his third attempt for the presidency after tapping into the country’s economic frustrations to win Saturday’s election.
His win marks a historic victory, making him the first president in the three decades of Ghana’s Fourth Republic — since the 1992 return to multi-party democracy — to reclaim the presidency after being voted out.
Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, beat out Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who represented the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and who conceded defeat on Sunday.
The economy became a major election issue after Ghana defaulted on its debt and entered into a US$3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Mahama, 66, who served as president from 2012 to 2017, promised to “reset” Ghana, renegotiate parts of the IMF deal and introduce a “24-hour” economy to create jobs, a major concern for many younger voters.
And AFP reports that addressing a press conference from his residence, Bawumia said he had called Mahama to congratulate him, adding that Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) also won the parliamentary election.
“Let me say that the data from our own internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the Presidential election decisively,” Bawumia said.
“The NDC has also won the parliamentary election. Even though we await final collation of a number of seats, I believe ultimately these will not change the outcome.”
Bawumia said he conceded before the official results to ease tensions.
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