ACCRA, Ghana (AFP):- Former President and opposition leader John Mahama claimed victory in Ghana’s presidential elections on Sunday after ruling party candidate Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat saying he [Mahama] had won “decisively”.
Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, beat out Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who represented the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and who conceded defeat on Sunday.
“The people of Ghana have spoken, the people have voted for change at this time and we respect it with all humility,” VP Bawumia said in a news conference on Sunday.
Mahama previously tried twice before and lost but won back the country’s top post on a third attempt of asking.
Earlier, NDC spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told reporters the party’s internal review of results showed Mahama won 56.3 percent of the vote against 41.3 percent for Bawumia.
“It is very clear the people of this country have voted for change,” Gyamfi said.
The 66-year-old veteran leader who served as country’s president from 2012 to 2017, promised to “reset” Ghana, renegotiate parts of the IMF deal and introduce a “24-hour” economy to create jobs, a major concern for many younger voters.
Mahama’s win marks a historic victory, making him the first president in the three decades of Ghana’s Fourth Republic since the 1992 return to multi-party democracy to reclaim the presidency after being voted out.
Celebrations broke out among the supporters of the opposition candidate in parts of the country, including the capital city.
Wearing the opposition party’s white, green, red and black colors, women and young people danced to music and trumpet blasts on the streets and at the party’s national headquarters
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