- Title: Ghanaians react to Nana Akufo-Addo election win
- Date: 10th December 2016
- Summary: NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING (English): "NANA ADDO BREAKS MYTH OF THE JOHNS" / PHOTOS OF PAST 4 GHANA PRESIDENTS WITH JOHN IN NAME
- Embargoed: 25th December 2016 10:21
- Keywords: Ghana vote election Mahama Akufo-Addo NPP Accra
- Location: ACCRA, GHANA
- City: ACCRA, GHANA
- Country: Ghana
- Reuters ID: LVA0025CAUQMF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
Opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo won Ghana's national election, becoming president elect at the third attempt and cementing the country's reputation as a standard bearer of democracy in a region that has been blighted by civil wars and coups.
Akufo-Addo defeated President John Mahama by 53.8 percent to 44.4 percent, electoral commissioner Charlotte Osei said late on Friday (December 9), sparking scenes of celebration in the capital Accra.
Supporters of his New Patriotic Party (NPP) cheered and danced following an anxious day in which his victory had been broadly accepted but there were no official results.
A jubilant crowd gathered outside his residence in Accra wearing the party colours, red, white and blue, blowing on vuvuzela horns and waving NPP flags.
Voters in the capital on Saturday (December 10) morning said they hoped that Akufo-Addo would quickly bring much-needed economic reform.
The 72-year-old served as foreign minister and attorney general in the NPP government that ruled between 2001 and 2009 and twice previously lost close battles for the presidency.
The NPP will inherit an economy from Mahama's National Democratic Congress that for years was rated one of Africa's most dynamic but has slowed sharply since 2014, in part because of prices have fallen for its gold, oil and cocoa exports.
That made the government vulnerable to opposition accusations it had mismanaged the nation's finances and squandered wealth from oil, which started to flow in 2010 from an offshore field operated by British company Tullow.
In a bid to kickstart growth, the NPP says it will create jobs, build a dam in every village and a factory in every district and give each constituency the equivalent of $1 million per year to pursue development projects.
At the same time, it also aims to maintain a tight fiscal stance in a country that is mid-way through an International Monetary Fund programme aimed at restoring balance to an economy facing elevated inflation and other problems. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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