Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia accepted defeat in Saturday’s election and congratulated the opposition candidate., former President John Mahama, on his victory.
“The people voted for change,” Bawumia said.
The election comes as the country is going through its worst economic crisis in a generation, sending prices of basic goods soaring, while young people struggle to find jobs and the country is not debt can be paid.
Despite Bawumia’s concession, no official results have yet been announced.
The Election Commission (EC) said the results were delayed because supporters of the two main parties were obstructing the process, and it asked police to disperse collation centers.
Mahama’s supporters took to the streets across the country to celebrate, cheering, waving flags, blowing vuvuzelas and spinning motorbikes.
“I am very happy for this victory,” Salifu Abdul-Fatawu told the BBC in downtown Kumasi.
He said he hopes that means he and his siblings will get jobs, while food and fuel prices will fall.
Even Nana, who supports the NPP, admitted that “my party is the NPP but whatever they do is not good.
“The system is so bad in an election year that most people are unhappy.”
Bawumia said he based his statement on internal figures of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He said these showed that Mahama had won “decisively”, while the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party had also won the parliamentary election.
Mahama confirmed that Bawumia called to congratulate him on his “resounding victory”.
The NDC earlier said its internal results showed Mahama won 56% of the vote compared to Bawumia’s 41%.
The vice president said he accepted defeat before announcing the official results “to avoid further tension and preserve the peace of our country”.
President Nana Akufo-Addo will step down after reaching the official limit of two terms.
Mahama, 65 years old, led Ghana from 2012 to 2017 when he was replaced by Akufo-Addo. Mahama also lost the 2020 election so this victory marks a stunning comeback.
Since multiparty politics returned to Ghana in 1992, only candidates from the NDC or NPP have won the presidency.
No party has yet won more than two consecutive terms – a trend that looks set to continue.
Mahama’s previous stint in power was marred by an ailing economy, frequent power cuts and corruption scandals.
However, Ghanaians hope this time things will be different.
In Tamale, NDC supporter Gajia One told the BBC: “We have handed over to them [NPP] and thought they could manage the country well, but they failed and we took over.”
“John Mahama is the right man to rule this country. We are fed up.”
Additional reporting by Natasha Booty
