EC declares NPP's Akufo-Addo winner of 2020 presidential election

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Dec - 09 - 2020 , 18:03 4 minutes read

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been given the mandate to govern Ghana for the next four years from January 7, 2021 to January 6, 2025.

This follows the declaration by the Electoral Commission (EC) that he is the winner of the presidential election held on Monday, December 7, 2020.

Nana Akufo-Addo who contested the election on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP won with 6,730,413 votes which represents 51.295 percent of the total valid votes cast.

His closest competitor, John Dramani Mahama from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) got 6,214,889 votes representing 47.366 per cent.

The total valid votes cast was 13, 434,574 representing 79 per cent of the total registered voters.

Declaring the results Wednesday evening [December 9, 2020], 48 hours after the polls closed, the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa described the elections as "incident free" and "peaceful."

She said the technology deployed on Election Day worked efficiently and effectively.

She said the usual hustle and long queues at polling stations in past elections were all absent.

Without Techiman South

The election results were declared without the Techiman South constituency where the results is in dispute.

The number of registered voters in that constituency is 128,018.

The chairperson of the EC said: "the results is not ready because they are being contested, as such collation has not been completed."

"It is important to note however, the difference between the total number of votes between the first and second candidates is 515,524 votes."
"As a result, if you add the 128,018 full results to the results of the second candidate [John Dramani Mahama], it will not change the outcome of the election, hence our declaration of the 2020 presidential results without that of Techiman South," Mrs Mensa said.
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"Indeed if we were to add the entire results, or collate all the results of the Techiman South constituency and that to the percentage and votes of the second candidate, Mr John Dramani Mahama, he will obtain 47.873 percent of the total votes cast and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will obtain 50.8 percent of the total votes cast."
"It is on that basis that we say that the outcome of the election will not change, hence our declaration of the 2020 presidential election without that of Techiman South," Mrs Mensa added.

EC clarifies disparities in presidential election results percentages

Concerns were raised about the inaccuracy of the percentages the EC provided in the declaration on Wednesday evening, December 9, 2020.

However on Thursday morning, (December 10, 2020), the Electoral Commission clarified the disparities in the presidential election results percentages declared.

In a statement the EC acknowledged that the Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa "inadvertently used 13,433,573 as the total valid votes cast."

"The total valid votes cast is 13,119,460. This does not change the percentages stated for each candidate and the declaration made by the Chairperson," the EC said in the statement issued Thursday morning, December 10, 2020.

The EC has since provided a summary of the 2020 presidential election results without the Techiman South consituency.

The percentages are as follows:

"Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, on the basis of the foregoing election results, and by the power vested in me as the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, and the Returning Officer of the presidential election, it is my duty and honour to declare Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as President-elect of the Republic of Ghana. May God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong, let peace rain," Mrs Mensa declared.

Below is a copy of the statement clarifying the percentages together with how the other presidential candidates fared

Watch a video the declaration below

Below is what the EC declared on Wednesday evening