Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo Wins Re-Election

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo won re-election with 51.59 percent of the vote, results from the election commission showed on Wednesday.

The results follow a contentious poll that both candidates had said they were leading based on their camps’ tallies.

Akufo-Addo, who ran under the platform of New Patriotic Party (NPP), was declared winner of the election by Jean Mensah, the chairperson of the electoral commission of Ghana on Wednesday evening, December 9.

According to Mensah, Akufo-Addo polled a total of 6,730,430 votes to defeat his main rival and former President John Mahama who polled 6,214,889 votes

Mensah said the total valid votes cast during the election were 30,434,574, representing 79 percent of registered voters.

Independent observers this week congratulated Ghana for conducting largely peaceful polls, in line with its reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.

But tensions have risen as the camps of Mahama and Akufo-Addo said their tallies showed their candidate in the lead.