By By Gaby Ndongo
Nana Akufo-Addo’s third attempt to hold the highest office in the land paid off this week after he won the Ghanaian elections by securing a majority of the public vote.
The former foreign minister and attorney general of the National Patriotic Party, received 53.8% of the votes while his opponent the incumbent John Mahama had only 44.4%.
The NPP was in power from 2001 to 2008. The party later lost the election to opposition parties in 2008 and in 2012 when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came into power.
The news was met with little resistance by Ghana’s current President Mahama who conceded defeat on the 9th December just two days after the national election. Mahama reportedly made a phone call to Akufo-Addo congratulating him on the win.
“A few minutes ago, I received a call from President JD Mahama congratulating me on winning the 2016 Presidential Election,” Akufo-Addo said in a tweet on Friday evening.
About an hour later, Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei sent out a tweet announcing the new president of the Ghanaian people.
“We declare Nana Akufo-Addo as President-Elect of our Ghana. God bless Ghana. Thank you,” Osei said in the Twitter post.
Ghana’s election results have been very close in the past. In 2012 Mahama won the race defeating Akufo-Addo by 50.7 % but his successor has now slightly widened the gap.
Akufo-Addo, 72, proclaimed his victory just a day before the release of the official results. With the criticism attributed to Mahama’s presidency, his victory was almost predictable.
For now, economic expectations for the world’s second largest producer of both cocoa and gold to recover are high.
Featured image from the official Twitter account of Nana Akufo-Addo.
Youth Chronicle 