Election 2016: It's Akufo-Addo - EIB projection

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo is in a pole position to be Ghana’s next president, according to results gathered by EIB's Election Hub.

The 72-year-old has so far garnered 4,612,870 votes representing 54.13% from 214 out of the 275 constituencies.

Incumbent John Mahama is likely to go down in history as the first sitting president to have lost an election under the Fourth Republic of the 1992 constitution. Mahama, who led the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to power in 2012 has about 3,765,537 representing 44.8% of the total votes from 214 constituencies, making it statistically difficult to obtain the required 50% plus 1 mark.

The Electoral Commission is expected to declare its official results on Friday.

The opposition NPP had already declared victory in the 2016 elections, but the ruling NDC has served notice its candidate “is cruising to victory” with the country’s Peace Council calling on the Electoral Management Body to “expedite the process” in declaring results to calm nerves.

The NPP has so far grabbed 111 seats in Parliament with the NDC at 59 from the results obtained so far.

An Akufo-Addo win in the 2016 elections will be vengeance for the NPP after Mahama beat him to the presidency following an eight-month legal tussle.

Akufo-Addo is a former Attorney General and Foreign Affairs Minister under the erstwhile Kufuor administration and has been eyeing the presidency since 2008. Late president John Mills beat him in that year’s election after a run off and resurfaced again in 2012 to be defeated by incumbent Mahama.

His vice president will be economist Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who was a former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana.

Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM