Claim: Mahama lost the 2016 presidential election with over 1 million votes.
Source: Ambassador Mike Oquaye Jnr
Verdict: False
Researched by GhanaFact newsroom
Ghana’s former High Commissioner to India, Mike Oquaye Jnr, who was also the 2024 parliamentary aspirant for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Dome Kwabenya constituency has rehashed a serially debunked claim that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo defeated John Mahama with over one million votes in the 2016 presidential election.
Oquaye Jnr made this claim on Asaasepa Radio’s Atumpan morning show on August 4, 2026. Talking generally about the rising cost of living, he said the government had reduced its defense to everyday complaints to the appreciation of the dollar and lowering inflation. “It is all fake. So they should keep at it. I am surprised that President John Mahama has forgotten that we won the 2016 election by over one million votes.
“Yes, by the next election (2020), the win margin had reduced drastically because some issues – like the COVID, the Russia-Ukraine war – meant that our good governance record was misunderstood by the population, how much more this government where prices are going up with all the problems,” he said.
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This over one million victory margin claim has been serially cited in public discourse over the years especially by NPP officials. GhanaFact debunked a similar claim by Peter Mac Manu, a former chairman of the party. Fact-checks on the same have been published here and here. Other top party functionaries have, however, continued to repeat the claim (here and here).
This fact-check seeks to verify the accuracy of the claim.
Fact-Check
GhanaFact referred to updates on the declaration of the 2016 presidential election results where the then Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Charlotte Osei, declared that Akufo-Addo gained 5,716,026 votes representing 53.8% of valid votes cast and John Mahama gained 4,713,277 representing 44.40%. She further stated that this result excluded 4 constituencies – 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 final 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%.
From the certified result by the Electoral Commission, the difference between the two candidates was 959,847 not over 1 million as claimed.
Below is an analysis of the two different sets of results that the EC declared after the 2016 presidential elections.
Verdict
From the above, the claim that Akufo-Addo beat Mahama with over 1 million votes to win the 2016 polls is false.
