Ghana Votes In Tight Presidential Election Race

Ghana held presidential and parliamentary elections yesterday with frontrunners, vice president and former central banker, Mahamudu Bawumia and opposition ex-president John Mahama facing off in a closely contested race.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is set to step down next month after completing the two-term limit mandated by the constitution. Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer and a major gold exporter.

Its struggling economy emerged as the dominant electoral issue after the West Africa gold and cacao producer went through a debt default, high inflation and negotiations for a $3 billion IMF bailout.

Voting closed at 1700 GMT yesterday, with early results expected today and full results for the presidential election expected by Tuesday.

“We want to vote for change, the economic situation is very hard,” retired policeman James Nsiah said, waiting to cast his ballot at a booth in the Jamestown area of the capital Accra.

With a history of political stability, Ghana’s two main parties, current ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), have alternated in power almost equally since 1992.

Touting a slogan “Break the 8” — a reference to the usual two, four-year terms in power — the NPP hopes Bawumia can lead them to an unprecedented third term in office. But he struggled to break from being linked to criticism of Akufo-Addo’s ecoomic record.