Two days after its Dec. 7 polls, with official results yet to be announced by Ghana’s electoral commission, local media is calling the election for the Nana Akufo-Addo, the main opposition candidate.
Akufo-Addo says his party is “quietly confident that we have won a famous and historic victory.” Akufo-Addo’s projected win comes after his third attempt to contest for president in one of Africa’s most stable democracies. If he wins he’d be taking over from current president John Mahama who won in 2012.
Despite its traditionally tight elections, Ghana’s elections and power transitions are known to be largely peaceful. This year though, Akufo-Addo’s preemptive declaration of victory could throw a spanner in the works. After proclaiming himself as winner yesterday (Dec. 8) based on his campaign’s vote tally and calling on the incumbent president to concede defeat, Mahama’s campaign described his rival’s comments as irresponsible and “treasonable.” But, in a twist later in the day, Akufo-Addo, in a tweet, claimed he’d received concession phone calls from his rivals for presidency, including Mahama.
Mahama has assured Ghanaians he is ready to hand over peacefully if officials say he lost. For its part, Ghana’s electoral commission, which has been subject to a website hack, says it is still compiling results from polling centers across the country and will not hastily announce final results.