Fatshimetrie witnessed a major event on Sunday as Ghana’s Vice President and ruling party candidate Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat to opposition leader and former President John Dramani Mahama in the West African nation’s tense presidential election.
Ahead of the official announcement of the results, Bawumia told reporters that he respected Ghanaians’ decision to embrace change. “I have just called His Excellency John Mahama to congratulate him as the President-elect of the Republic of Ghana,” he said.
Celebrations erupted in parts of the country, including the capital, Accra.
The election came amid the country’s worst cost of living crisis in a generation and was seen as a test of democracy in a region rocked by extremist violence and coups.
Bawumia presented himself as the standard-bearer for the ruling New Patriotic Party, or NPP, which has been struggling to resolve the economic crisis under outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Mahama’s victory is in line with a current trend in elections around the world that favors opposition parties over incumbents, from the United States to European countries such as Britain and France, as well as South Africa.
Mahama, 65, was president of Ghana from July 2012 to January 2017.
During his campaign, Mahama promised to “reinvigorate” the country in various ways and sought to appeal to young Ghanaians who saw voting as a way out of their country’s economic crisis.