The incumbent Ghanaian president Akufo-Addo has held on to power following the release of official results. Tensions are rising in the normally peaceful country as his opponent calls foul play. 
The Ghanaian electoral commission on Wednesday declared incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo the winner of the country’s 2020 presidential election.
The 76-year-old Akufo-Addo from the center-right New Patriotic Party (NPP) beat his opponent and predecessor John Dramani Mahama of the center-left National Democratic Congress (NDC) with 51.59% of the total vote.
It is expected that this will be his second and final term in accordance with the Ghanaian constitution.
More than 13 million ballots were cast out of a total electorate of 17 million and across over 30,000 polling stations throughout the country.
Voters also chose 275 lawmakers for the national parliament.
Five people were reported killed in election violence with several offenders arrested.
CONGRATULATIONS to the President Elect @NAkufoAddo you deserve it.
— John Agyekum Kufuor (@JohnAKufuor) December 9, 2020
According to the EU EOM, Ghana’s poll on Monday was carried out largely peacefully — a regular achievement for the West African country unlike for some of its neighbors that have seen violence following recent elections — although the process was mired by accusations of fraud before the official results were released.
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana Jean Adukwei Mensa praised election workers for operating the polls smoothly, and openly, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the NDC has rejected the results of the election and said they planned to appeal the electoral commission’s decision, Haruna Iddrisu an MP for the party told NetbuzzAfrica.com after the declaration.
The results of one constituency remained disputed, however, Jean Mensa said that even if all remaining votes went for John Dramani Mahama, it still would not change the overall outcome.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, turnout was high, with 13,434,574 people voting—79 percent of registered voters.
Severely hit by the pandemic, growth in the nation of 30 million people is expected to fall this year to its lowest in three decades, to 0.9 percent according to the International Monetary Fund, a steep decline from 6.5 percent growth in 2019.
An urgent task for the next government will be to limit mounting debt and control rising inflation.
