According to preliminary results announced by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday night, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo was re-elected after an extremely close vote. His historic rival John Mahama has not yet spoken. An elected official from his party announced late in the evening that the opposition rejected the results and planned to appeal the election commission’s decision.
When supporters of the outgoing president took to the streets of Accra to celebrate Nana Akufu-Addo’s victory, an NDC deputy for John Dramani Mahama told the press that the party refused to admit defeat. He threatened to challenge these findings in court. He said that in the coming days, evidence of fraud would be provided, according to our special correspondent in Accra, Christina okello.
For his part, John did not respond and the candidate refrained from the traditional phone call to congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo. During his last speech on Tuesday, John Mahama warned that he “would resist any attempt to steal the vote”, while rumors that he admitted the victory circulated for several hours on social networks.
Voting fees
No member of the Mahama’s party had turned up at the Commission’s headquarters on Wednesday to witness their candidate, a failure that his supporters refuse to believe. Convinced that the victory was stolen from them, the opposition is currently accusing without proof of having directly stopped the ballot box with 390,000 fraudulent votes in the disputed region of Ashanti.
What is certain is that the opposition candidate claims that he won the majority in parliament, even though the result of the legislative election is not yet known. But his statement was immediately denied by the information minister. The political soap opera is obviously not about to end.
For her part, Nana Akufo-Addo called on Ghana for peace and unity. “The time has come,” he said, “regardless of political affiliation, to unite, join hands and stand side by side.”
I do not agree with this way of moving forward.
Reactions from Ghanaians
A third duel without a referee
It was the third duel for Nana Akufo-Addo and her historical rival. In 2012, John Mahama won, then he lost in 2016. He then tried to challenge Nana Akufo-Addo’s victory, but was sharply cut off by Jerry rawlings, the founder of his party, NDC. John Mahama had stopped accepting the sanction of the ballot box, to make room for his rival, reminds our correspondent in Accra, Marine Jeannin. But Jerry Rawling’s disappearance last month now leaves room for the judge of Ghanaian political life. And Ghana’s status as a democratic model can come out of it.
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