Vote casting stopped at 5PM yesterday and vote counting is in full gear. The Nation awaits the final result with bated breath as tension envelopes the country.
All eyes are fixed on John Mahama, the President and Nana Akuffo Addo,former Foreign Minister his major opponent. Nana Addo was defeated four years ago when Mahama was running as Deputy with John Atta Mills.
Will Mahama survive the storm and emerge victorious or will the former Foreign Minister defeat him this time? Only time will tell.
VOA news Africa has been following proceedings in Ghana’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections. VOA’s Peter Clottey, reporting from Ghana’s capital of Accra, reports polls closed in Ghana at 5 p.m. local time, although people in line at that hour were allowed to vote. He says the electoral commission postponed voting in one western Ghanaian district (Jaman North) until Thursday, due to an unspecified security threat.
Otherwise, Clottey says, “It has been really quiet … A little bit of competitiveness. Nothing in the way of violence.”
Akufo-Addo, has seized on Ghana’s current economic woes as a campaign theme, accusing Mahama and his ruling National Democratic Congress of incompetence.
Ghana is a major exporter of oil, gold and cocoa. But Mahama’s term has been overshadowed by the plunge in global oil prices, which reduced government revenues and contributed to soaring inflation. The government accepted a $918 million bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
The president traveled across the country in the waning days of the campaign to promote a set of new major infrastructure projects he has undertaken.
Ghana has enjoyed a reputation as beacon of democracy on the African continent, but this year’s campaign has been marred by accusations of voter intimidation and concerns about the country’s electoral commission.