Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has chosen Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia as its presidential candidate in next year’s election.
He will be the first northerner and Muslim to contest the presidency under the NPP’s banner since multi-party democracy was restored in 1992.
In his victory speech, Bawumia promised to lead a “united and energised” NPP into the election.
He won the primaries by a convincing margin, getting 61.47% of the vote.
Bawumia’s nearest rival Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who got 37.4% of the vote, accepted defeat.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, a member of the NPP, will step down after the December 2024 elections, having served his two terms in office.
The election is expected to be a two-horse race between Bawumia and former President John Mahama, who is the flagbearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
