Photo: Ghana’s President-elect, John Dramani Mahama
Ghana’s former president John Dramani Mahama has staged a dramatic political comeback by winning the West African nation’s presidential election after his rival Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat on Sunday.
The elections come amidst the country’s worst economic crisis in a generation, which saw the country default on its debt.
The concession by VP Bawumia is a remarkable gesture by an African politician, especially for Nigerians, where elections are determined in the court due to the opposition’s refusal to accept defeat.
It also marks a major political revival for former president Mahama, who had lost the last two elections to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Bawumia conceded defeat even though the results of the election were yet to be officially announced.
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.
Bawumia said he conceded before the official results to ease tensions.
Joy News said provisional results from 25 out of 276 constituencies nationwide showed that Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was at 50.25%, while Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) was at 48.1%.
In the parliamentary election, the opposition NDC was leading with 16 seats compared with the ruling NPP’s 9 out of a total of 276 seats in Parliament, Joy News reported.
