Ghana polls: ex-president Mahama set for third showdown with Akuffo-Addo

Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo and main opposition leader John Mahama will face off for a third consecutive time at the presidential election in 2020, after the latter’s party confirmed his nomination on Wednesday.

2012: Mahama wins Round 1

Mahama, who succeeded his deceased predecessor in 2012, defeated Akufo-Addo in the presidential election later that year.

2016: Akuffo-Addo wins Round 2

In 2016, the two faced off agaian, and this time round, Akufo-Addo unseated Mahama, capitalizing on an economy that was slowing due to falling prices for gold, oil and cocoa exports.

Mahama accepted defeat immediately, maintaining the West African country’s record of fiercely contested but peaceful elections.

2020: Who will win Round 3?

The National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) ticket designated Mahama its candidate for the December 2020 vote at a party congress over the weekend, its director of elections, Elvis Ankrah, told Reuters.

ALSO READ: Ghanaians react to ex-president Mahama’s bid for 2020 voteAkufo-Addo, who is expected to stand for re-election as the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), campaigned in 2016 on promises to cut deficits following overspending by Mahama’s government that blew a $1.6 billion hole in the budget.

He has presided over an economic recovery, with growth of 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of last year.

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, Africa’s number two gold producer and it began pumping oil off its coast in 2010.

ALSO READ: Ghana’s president fires electoral commission head, two deputiesREUTERS