Ghana’s president promises to respect election outcome

Ghana’s president John Mahama said on Friday he would respect the results of an election that private radio stations said he had lost to main opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo.

“I want to assure the nation that we will respect the outcome of the election, positive or negative, and so let us just be calm,” he told supporters gathered outside his house as he urged them to remain calm.

Mr Mahama fought Wednesday’s election against the backdrop of an economy that has slowed since he took power in 2013, in part because of lower global prices for the west African country’s exports of gold, oil and cocoa.

The influential radio stations said Mr Akufo-Addo had won the election with an absolute majority.

Ghana’s record of peaceful elections since 1992 and regular changes of government through the ballot box stands as a beacon in a region that has seen a series of civil wars and coups.

Joy FM radio and Citi FM based their projections on results from Wednesday’s election given at the constituency level ahead of an official final tally that the electoral commissioner said would likely be announced by Saturday.

Joy FM’s website showed Mr Akufo-Addo winning with 53 per cent of the vote and Mr Mahama on 45.2 per cent, based on a count of 218 constituencies out of 275 in total. Citi FM gave Mr Akufo-Addo 54.8 per cent based on 190 constituencies.

IMF programme

If confirmed, it would be a bigger victory than recent presidential elections. Mr Akufo-Addo said on Thursday he was “quietly confident” of victory and his party had also picked up 49 seats in parliament to give it a majority.

The government is mid-way through an International Monetary Fund programme to restore fiscal stability in the face of an increased budget deficit, elevated inflation and a currency that has halved in value since 2014.

Mr Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the government mismanaged national finances and has promoted its own plans for job creation in line with its free market ideology.

The currency was not affected by the early election calls on Friday, but continued its downward trend against the US dollar, a trader said.

Mr Akufo-Addo ( 72), served as attorney general and then as foreign minister in the New Patriotic Party government, which held power for eight years starting in 2001.

The electoral commission is set to begin releasing results on Friday and will complete the process by Saturday. – (Reuters)