The election results were announced on 9 December 2016 due to a delay of voting in two areas. At 19:51 local time, Mahama called Akufo-Addo to concede defeat. At 20:45, the Electoral Commission declared that Akufo-Addo had defeated Mahama in a single round. It was the first time in Ghana's history that a sitting president had been defeated for reelection.
Eligible voters must be Ghanaian citizens aged 18 or over, although those declared insane are disenfranchised. Parliamentary candidates must be Ghanaian citizens at least 21 years old, and either be resident in their constituency or have lived there for at least five of the ten years prior to the election.[3]
Campaign
Presidential candidates
Over 16 people filed with the election commission to run for president. However, 13 presidential candidates were disqualified due to incorrect filing procedures. The disqualified candidates included former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the president of the National Democratic Party.[4] There was some controversy due to allegations that the candidates were disqualified for political reasons. The Electoral Commission denied all accusations. After the disqualification, only four presidential candidates remained. However, the presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) Paa Kwesi Nduom took the EC to court over his disqualification. The court finally ruled in his favour, allowing him to join the race.[5] Two other candidates who were disqualified also followed suit, leading to there being seven candidates.
Incumbent John Mahama was eligible for a second full term since he had ascended to the presidency with only six months remaining in the term of his predecessor and running mate, John Atta Mills. In Ghana, when a vice-president ascends to the presidency with more than half of a presidential term remaining, he is only allowed to run for a single full term in his own right. If more than half of the term has expired, the vice-president is eligible for two full terms.[14]
Parliamentary candidates
A total of 1,144 candidates contested the 275 seats in Parliament. The NDC and NPP both ran full slates of 275 candidates, whilst the CPP (222 candidates) and PPP (163) were the only two other parties to run in over half the seats. The PNC nominated 64 candidates, the NDP 33, the APC 20, the GCPP 10, the UFP six and the DPP and UPP both had only one candidate. The other 74 candidates were independents.[15]
^Constitution of Ghana, Section 60, clause 7: Where the unexpired term served by the Vice-President under clause 6 of this article exceeds half the term of a President, the Vice-President is subsequently only eligible to serve one full term as President.
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