Ghana voted in a presidential and parliamentary election yesterday amid hopes for an economic revival after the worst financial crisis in a generation, which led to a major debt default in the West African nation.President Nana Akufo-Addo is stepping down next month after serving the two terms allowed by the constitution in Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer and a significant gold miner.Twelve candidates are vying to succeed him, but the race is seen as primarily between Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, chosen successor of Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP), and former president John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).Opinion polls tipped Mahama, who served as president from 2012-2016, for a potential comeback.Mahama, 66, has framed Bawumia as representing a continuation of policies that led to Ghana’s economic woes, and has promised to renegotiate terms of a $3bn IMF bailout secured last year to restructure the country’s debts. The crisis peaked in 2022 when Ghana turned to the IMF.“This is the only election that we can all see the direction of the outcome before we start voting,” Mahama said after casting his vote in Bole, his home town in northern Ghana.“We are hopeful and confident that we’ll win,” he added.Bawumia, a 61-year-old former central banker, also expressed confidence that he would win after he voted in his Walewale constituency in northern Ghana.
