Ghana electoral body declares incumbent President Akufo-Addo winner

After putting Ghanaians on the tenterhooks since Tuesday, the Ghana Electoral Commission on Wednesday finally declared incumbent President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party re-elected for a second term of four years.

According to the commission, he polled 6,730,413 votes representing 51.595 percent of the total valid votes cast.

His challenger, ex-President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) got 6,214,889 votes representing 47.36 per cent.

Compared with 2016, Akufo-Addo got one million votes more this year, but in percentage terms, he got less.

In 2016, he got 5,716,026, representing 53.85 percent of the total votes cast. His rival, Mahama got 4,713,277, votes, representing 44.4%.

It means Mahama’s party gained more this year than in 2016, a performance that reflected in the number of seats won in parliament.

Turnout of voters this year was 13, 434,574 representing 79 per cent of the 17 million registered voters.

After putting Ghanaians on tenterhooks since 5 pm on Tuesday, the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa finally pronounced the winner.

She described the elections as “incident-free” and “peaceful, although police said five persons died.”

While Akufo-Addo beat Mahama by about 500,000 votes, his party was locked in a nail-biting finish to secure a majority in parliament.

With two seats left to be declared, the NPP secured 137 seats out of 275 seats, while NDC got 135 seats. An independent got one seat. Two seats for Sene West and Upper Denkyira West remain to be called.