The opposition, social-democrat orientated National Democratic Congress (NDC) has won a clear victory over the previous national-liberal ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the elections in Ghana.
According to preliminary figures, the NDC candidate, John Mahama, was able to secure 58.08% of the vote and was thus elected as the country's new president in the first round of voting. His rival, the incumbent Vice President Mahamudu Bawamia, achieved 41%. Mahama's victory was already apparent after the first count and Bawamia congratulated him on his success. John Mahama was already president of the country from 2012 to 2016.
The NDC also scored a major success in the parliamentary elections. It won 183 seats in the 275-seat parliament, 46 seat more, while the NPP only managed to win 88, a loss of 49. 4 seats went to independent, non-party candidates and 1 seat is not yet been counted.
Mahama's victory marks the first time that a woman, Nana Jane Opoku Agyemang, has been elected to such a high office of state as Vice President. She sees the result as an important stepping stone for women to take on prominent positions in politics and other areas of society. In the Volta Region, traditionally a stronghold of the NDC, Mahama achieved 90.9% of the vote and the NDC won all 18 parliamentary seats allocated to the region.
The reasons for the NPP's clear defeat are the poor overall economic situation, the rising cost of living and Ghana's high debt burden. This is also where the new government will face difficult tasks in the future. Mahama has already announced that he will enter into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to achieve a modification of Ghana's debt burden. Another very urgent problem is the energy crisis. The state is in debt to the energy suppliers to the tune of around USD 1.5 billion and there is a threat of power cuts. Furthermore, galloping inflation must be contained and the urgent problem of illegal mining must be solved. This, known as galamsey in Ghana, is causing enormous environmental damage, affecting cocoa production and massively damaging the water supply in the areas concerned. In the past, it has been repeatedly revealed that politicians are also involved in these illegal practices. Changing this and also curbing the increasing corruption will also be a challenging task for the Mahama government, and the population will judge it by its success.
