John Dramani Mahama wins Ghana's presidential election, promises reforms

Ex-president John Dramani Mahama has been declared the winner of Ghana’s presidential election, securing 56.55% of the vote. As Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat, Mahama pledged reforms to address the nation’s economic crisis and reset its governance priorities.

Ghana’s electoral commission announced on Monday that ex-president and main opposition leader John Dramani Mahama had won Saturday’s presidential election with 56.55% of the vote, according to provisional results.

Mahama's main rival, vice president and ruling-party presidential candidate Mahamudu Bawumia, conceded defeat on Sunday in both presidential and legislative elections to ease tensions.

The electoral commission stated that it had counted votes from 267 of the West African country's 276 constituencies, with voter turnout at 60.9%.

Mahama, 66, is making a return to power after serving as Ghana’s president from 2012 to 2016. He described Bawumia as representing a continuation of the policies that led to Ghana's worst economic crisis in a generation.

“This mandate serves as a constant reminder of what fate awaits us if we fail to reach the aspirations of our people and govern with arrogance,” he told hundreds of jubilant supporters at his campaign grounds after the results were announced.

“The victory shows that the Ghanaian people have little tolerance for bad governance,” he added, promising "severe measures and governance reforms" to "reset our nation."

In an interview with Reuters before the election, Mahama said he would seek to renegotiate terms of a $3-billion International Monetary Fund bailout secured last year to restructure the country's debt.

He also pledged to ease business regulations, introduce a 24-hour triple-shift work system, enact tax reforms, and invest $10 billion in modernising infrastructure.

A spiralling economic and cost-of-living crisis in Ghana, which produces cocoa, gold, and oil, undermined the popularity of Akufo-Addo's government and increased momentum for a change in leadership.

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