Ghana’s former president, John Dramani Mahama, won a historic comeback election on Sunday after voters appeared to punish the ruling New Patriotic Party over its management of an economic crisis.
On Sunday, NPP candidate Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat in the weekend presidential election after failing to shake off widespread frustration over high living costs.
The NPP under President Nana Akufo-Addo lost the election on Saturday, ending eight years in power marked by the West African state’s worst economic turmoil in years, high inflation, and a debt default.
For Mahama, president from 2012-2017, it was his third attempt to reclaim the nation’s top post after failing in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“The people of Ghana have spoken; the people have voted for change at this time, and we respect it with all humility,” Bawumia said in a press conference flanked by party officials.
In a speedy concession, with official vote tallies still coming in, Bawumia said he had called National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Mahama to congratulate him.
Blaring horns, waving flags, and cheering, Mahama supporters were already celebrating outside the party’s campaign headquarters in the capital, Accra.
Mahama has yet to speak publicly since Bawumia’s concession.
However, on his X account, Mahama confirmed that he received Bawumia’s congratulatory call after his “emphatic victory.”
Ghana’s economic woes dominated the election. The continent’s top gold producer and the world’s No. 2 cacao exporter went through a crisis of default and currency devaluation, ending with a $3 billion IMF bailout.
Earlier, NDC spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told reporters the party’s internal review of results showed Mahama won 56.3 per cent of the vote against 41.3 per cent for Bawumia.
Before sending the ballots to the election commission for official collation, political parties stationed agents at polling places to observe and tally the initial vote counts.
Commission Deputy Commissioner Bossman Asare told reporters that regional results had yet to arrive at the national centre.
The commission had said official results were likely due by Tuesday.
With a history of democratic stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the NPP and NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party politics in 1992.
Under the slogan “Break the 8″—a reference to two terms in power—Bawumia had sought to lead the NPP to an unprecedented third term. But he struggled to break away from criticism of Akufo-Addo’s economic record.
Though inflation slowed from more than 50 per cent to around 23 per cent, and other macroeconomic indicators are stabilising, economic struggles were still a clear election issue for many.
That frustration opened the way for a comeback challenge from Mahama.
But during campaigning, the former president also faced criticism from those who remember his government’s financial problems, especially the massive power cuts that marked his time in office.
