Claim: Akufo-Addo defeated Mahama with over 1 million votes in the 2016 presidential election.
Source: Peter Mac Manu
Verdict: FALSE
Researched by Nusrat Essah
The former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Mac Manu has claimed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo defeated John Mahama with over 1 million votes in the 2016 presidential election.
Peter Mac Manu made this claim during the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting by the Electoral Commission on October 1, 2024.
In excerpts from the over 3-hour programme shared by JoyNews on Youtube, Peter Manu is captured saying; “…it is less than what we had in 2016, but we went to the elections and we beat you with over 1 million votes, we beat you with over 1 million votes,” while replying to the NDC’s demand for a forensic audit of the voters register ahead of the 2024 polls (between 2 hours: 45 mins and 55 secs to 2 hours: 45min and 08sec).
This fact-check report seeks to verify the accuracy of the claim.
Fact-Check
GhanaFact referred to updates on the declaration of the 2016 presidential election results which was broadcast live from the Electoral Commission Headquarters, as shared by JoyNews on December 9, 2016.
The then Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Charlotte Osei, declared that Akufo-Addo gained 5,716,026 votes representing 53.8% and John Mahama gained 4,713,277 representing 44.40%. She further stated that this result excluded 4 constituencies, including Afram Plains North, Upper West Akim, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba and Tamale Central.
According to the EC boss, these constituencies had a total of 220,270 voters therefore their results were immaterial to the outcome given the wide margin that candidate Akufo-Addo had over Mahama.
For further verification, GhanaFact referred to data from the official website of the Electoral Commission that shows that by way of final results after the four constituencies had been added, President Akufo-Addo of the NPP secured a total of 5,767,076 votes representing 53.60 % of the total valid votes cast, while John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) gained a total of 4,807,229 votes representing 44.66%.
| Full final presidential results for the 2016 elections as shared by the EC | |
| CPP | 25,800 |
| NDP | 17,212 |
| NDC | 4,807,229 |
| PPP | 106,445 |
| NPP | 5,767,076 |
| PNC | 22,456 |
| IND | 15,971 |
| Total Valid Votes | 10,762,189 |
| Rejected Ballots | 168,882 |
| Total Registered Voters | 15,712,505 |
| %Voter Turnout | 69.6 |
Fig 1 – The above is the final figures for all candidates as declared by the EC
Below is an analysis of the two different sets of results that the EC declared after the 2016 presidential elections.
| Candidate | Akufo-Addo | John Mahama | Difference |
| Initial results | 5,716,026 | 4,713,277 | 1,002,749 |
| Final results | 5,767,076 | 4,807,229 | 959,847 |
| NB: The initial results was without tallies from four constituencies | |||
Fig 2 – A table showing the two results declared by the EC after the 2016 polls
From the certified result by the Electoral Commission, the difference between the two candidates was 959,847 not over 1 million as claimed.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim that Akufo-Addo beat Mahama with over 1 million votes to win the 2016 polls is false.
