John Dramani Mahama won Saturday’s presidential election with 56.55% of the vote.
Vice president and ruling-party presidential candidate Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat before the Electoral Commission declared the results.
Mahama, 66, is returning to the presidency after serving from 2012 to 2016. He described Bawumia as a continuation of the policies that led to the country’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 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 has also promised to ease business regulations, introduce a 24-hour triple-shift work system, enact tax reforms and invest $10 billion in modernising infrastructure.
Source: Reuters
