Ghana’s Hung Parliament Sets President Up for Tough Second Term

(Bloomberg) --

Ghana’s main opposition party won the remaining seat to be counted in the nation’s legislative elections, matching the ruling party’s tally and creating a hung parliament.

The National Democratic Congress won Sene West in the east of the country, giving it 137 of the legislature’s 275 seats, according to electoral commission figures. The constituency result was delayed by a week because of a dispute involving the main parties, it said.

President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party won re-election by defeating his longtime rival, John Mahama of the NDC, in a Dec. 7 vote. His party’s holds a majority of 62.7% in the outgoing parliament.

A hung parliament will complicate Akufo-Addo’s efforts to act decisively to restore an economy hurt by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. The global health crisis has driven Ghana’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product to 71% in September, the highest in four years. Before the crisis, Africa’s biggest gold producer was already under fiscal pressure due to the costs of cleaning up the banking sector and energy-sector liabilities.

READ: Ghana to Continue to Face Credit Challenges After Vote: Moody’s

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