Reuters: Accra, May 14. On Saturday, the National Democratic Congress, the largest opposition group in Ghana, decisively decided to keep former president John Mahama as its leader going into the 2024 presidential race.
In Ghana, one of the most stable democracies in Africa, Mahama is running for president for the third time. In 2016 and 2020, he was beaten by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Expect fierce competition in the forthcoming presidential election. No party has ever won more than two terms in a row, and the nation is currently experiencing the worst economic crisis in a generation, which has increased living expenses and sent the cedi currency plummeting, inciting protests.
Early on Sunday, the electoral commission announced that 64-year-old Mahama had received 297,603 votes, or 98.9% of the total ballots cast.
Soon after the decision, Mahama remarked, “I am humbled by the tremendous vote of trust the party has placed in me. “Let’s keep our collective eyes firmly fixed on the NDC’s main goal: leading Ghana out of the current pit in which we find our nation.”
In July 2012, after John Atta Mills passed away suddenly, Mahama, the vice president at the time, was elected president. Later that year, he was elected. He started looking for the chance to run for a second and final term in 2016.
Later this year, the ruling party will choose a candidate.
Ghana is asking the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion loan to support its weakened economy. Hopes that the loan would be approved shortly were increased on Friday by funding guarantees from its formal creditors.
Reuters
