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GHANA: President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo

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Ghana President Mahama concedes defeat

Accra, Ghana | AFP |

Ghana’s President John Mahama called opposition Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday to concede defeat and congratulate him on victory in the country’s hotly contested election, a party official said.

“Yes he has conceded defeat,” George Lawson of Mahama’s New Democratic Congress (NDC) party told AFP, after Wednesday’s nail-biting poll, seen as a test for a country generally viewed as a beacon of stability in west Africa.

 

In the end Akufo-Addo won the presidential election with 53 percent of votes cast, said the country’s electoral commission, whose head Charlotte Osei pronounced Akufo-Addo’s victory Friday evening, calling it her “privilege”.

The erudite 72-year-old human rights lawyer’s victory tapped into an electorate fed up with economic fiascos and corruption scandals, on a platform promising to boost growth and deliver jobs.

In the garden of Akufo-Addo’s house in the country’s capital of Accra, a jubilant crowd — almost all in head-to-toe white, a symbol of victory — had been dancing on the lawn for hours.

At one point, they broke out in an enthusiastic a capella rendition of Ghana’s national anthem.

Outside in the streets, a crowd of hundreds dressed in NPP colours of red, white and blue blowing horns and whistles had been gathering for hours.

The high stakes race between Akufo-Addo and incumbent Mahama has been seen as a litmus test of the stability for one of Africa’s most secure democracies.

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