Ghana will hold presidential elections on December 7, 2024. The country’s former President John Mahama won the nomination as the candidate from the state’s opposition party National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the upcoming elections. Ghana’s incumbent leader Nana Akufo-Addo is ineligible to run again.”
Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia was elected by the country’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) party on Saturday as its candidate for the 2024 presidential ballot, according to results from Primaries.
According to the final results, at least 61.4% of the votes were for Bawumia, while his main opponent businessman Kennedy Agyapong won 37.4%.
Apart from other candidates running for the top job, the vice president will also compete with opposition National Democratic Congress candidate Mahama.
As the first Muslim candidate to lead a party dominated by mostly Christian southerners, he has claimed himself to bridge some of Ghana’s regional divisions.
Ghana has been governed by Akufo-Addo, who is to step down after serving the two terms allowed by the constitution. Opposition candidate Mahama lost to Akufo-Addo in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
In his acceptance speech, Bawumia promised to rebuild the crisis-hit economy if elected as president.
“I want to lead a nation that improves and unleashes the talents of our youth and offers good jobs with good pay and sustainable growth with macroeconomic discipline,” he said.
Although Ghana’s ruling parties are often considered favourites to win presidential races, no party has ever won more than two consecutive terms. Voters may also question Bawumia’s track record as the West African country struggles to emerge from its worst economic crisis in a generation.
The oil, gold and cocoa producer has had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion bailout after its already strained finances buckled under the economic fallout from COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“With Bawumia as vice (president), one would have expected that the economy would be doing well, especially as he is the head of the economic management team, but not much has been achieved,” said Said Boakye, researcher at Ghana’s Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Bawumia’s selection also comes as the NPP pushes for greater diversity. He is the first Muslim to lead a major party in Ghana since 1992 and also the first person outside the dominant Akan-speaking ethnic group to lead the NPP.
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