ACCRA, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo faces a hung parliament after the opposit
ACCRA, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo faces a hung parliament after the opposition clinched the final undeclared seat on Friday, doubtlessly complicating his skill to implement financial measures to answer the coronavirus pandemic.
Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Social gathering (NPP) and the opposition Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC) every received 137 seats, which represents a lack of dozens of NPP seats. One constituency was received by an unbiased candidate.
Akufo-Addo received a second four-year time period within the Dec. 7 vote, narrowly defeating the NDC’s presidential candidate, former president John Mahama. Mahama has mentioned he’ll contest the outcomes, which he known as “fraudulent”.
Akufo-Addo has promised to implement a $17 billion programme to spice up development in West Africa’s second-largest financial system. The pandemic has hit the worth of oil and cocoa exports, ensuing within the first quarterly contractions in practically 40 years.
Kwesi Jonah, a analysis fellow on the Institute for Democratic Governance, mentioned he anticipated bipartisan cooperation on a lot of the president’s agenda however that the hung parliament may decelerate some controversial gadgets.
“Parliament tries to construct consensus on about 90% of points. The remaining 10% is what’s going to be tough,” he mentioned.
The NDC nonetheless hopes it may possibly eke out a majority. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, its director of elections, mentioned on Friday that its personal tallies confirmed it with a minimum of 139 seats and that it was contesting a number of outcomes.
The election was tainted by violence that killed a minimum of 5 folks, a rarity in a rustic that has a status as one in every of West Africa’s most secure democracies.
(Reporting by Christian Akorlie Writing by Bate Felix Enhancing by Aaron Ross and Giles Elgood)
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