Ghana: Akufo-Addo Announces Plan to Run for President

Akufo-Addo Campaig (file photo).
21 March 2014

Monrovia — Opposition politician Nana Akufo-Addo, who narrowly lost Ghana's last election to President John Dramani Mahama, has announced that he will be seeking his party's nomination for the 2016 presidential race.

In a statement, 70-year-old Akufo-Addo said he took the decision after a "long period of reflection" during a six-month hiatus he spent in the United Kingdom.

Despite losing the legal challenge his party put up against the 2012 presidential election, he said: "We showed responsible citizenship and put the nation first." His New Patriotic Party (NPP) secured 47.7 percent of the vote in that election against President Mahama's 50.7 percent. Ghana's Supreme court upheld the result in a landmark ruling.

Akufo-Addo explained that since then, he has received messages of support from Ghanaians of all works of life: "The message was unanimous: they all urged me to remain in frontline politics and to seek the candidacy of my party for the 2016 presidential election of Ghana."

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