Ghana's ex-President John Mahama is set to return after rival concedes election

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama is set to return to office in the West African nation’s presidential election after the ruling party candidate, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, on Sunday conceded defeat and voters vented anger at the government’s handling of the economy.

Ahead of the official announcement, Bawumia told reporters that he respects the decision of Ghanaians to vote for change. “I’ve just called His Excellency John Mahama to congratulate him as president-elect of the Republic of Ghana,” he said at his residence in the capital, Accra.

Previously president of Ghana between July 2012 and January 2017, Mahama, 65, acknowledged the call from the ruling party candidate in a post on the X platform, describing his victory as “emphatic.”

He had promised to “reset” the country on various fronts during a campaign that prioritized the economy and largely appealed to young Ghanaians who saw the vote as a way out of the country’s economic crisis.

Celebrations broke out among the supporters of the opposition candidate in parts of the country, including the capital city. Wearing the opposition party's white, green, red and black colors, women and young people danced to music and trumpet blasts on the streets and at the party's national headquarters

The election for both the president and members of parliament was held against the backdrop of the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and was seen as a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups. West Africa's regional bloc of ECOWAS said the election was generally peaceful, a continuing trend in Ghana.

Bawumia was running as the flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party, or NPP, which has struggled to resolve the economic crisis under outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo. Mahama's National Democratic Congress also won the majority in parliament, he said.

Mahama's win is viewed as following the latest trend of elections around the world, favoring opposition parties against incumbents, from the United States to European countries — such as Britain and France — as well as South Africa.

The former president is “the only person” who can fix the ailing economy in Ghana, one of West Africa's economic powerhouses, said Jude Agbemava, a policy analyst who voted for him.

Like in most other elections in countries where the incumbent lost, the vote in Ghana was about the people making their disaffection known against a government that has lost goodwill, said Seidu Alidu, head of the department of political science at Ghana's University of Legon.

“I think it has to do with the economy, which is largely a bread and butter issue for every Ghanaian,” said Alidu. “When the people elect you, they require you to do certain things for them. But it was also about the style of governance (because) even in other countries facing economic challenges, governments were being honest with the people, telling them what the reality is, and the steps they have taken to manage it,” he added.

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate their victory after Ghana's vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded his defeat in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate their victory after Ghana's vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded his defeat in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana's vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded his defeat in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate their victory after Ghana's vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded his defeat in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate their victory after Ghana's vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded his defeat in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent Ghana’s vice president and ruling party candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Former Ghana President and presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, gestures, at the party's final rally, in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, ahead of the presidential election. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Electoral commission volunteers wait for the opening of the polling stations for the general elections in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A woman with her child prepares her ballot in the general elections in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It is with great relief that Kevin Magnussen leaves Formula 1 in his rearview mirror after a 10-year career that produced exactly one podium finish, way back in his 2014 rookie season.

Magnussen's decade of racing in a car that can't win ended when Haas decided to make a full roster change for 2025. It kicked Magnussen out of the series, probably for good this time.

Haas had fired Magnussen after the 2020 season but brought him back in 2022 for two more years. The Danish driver now feels excitement moving into a new phase of his career centered around sports car racing.

Aside from the 2021 season when he ran in the IMSA sports car series while out of F1 work, he hasn't competed in a car capable of winning during that decade in F1. But in sports cars? Magnussen can be a champion.

Magnussen's new job began during this weekend's preparation for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he will be part of the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8 lineup. Magnussen will run the three endurance races on the IMSA schedule and a full season as a factory driver for BMW M in the World Endurance Championship.

A step down? Not a chance, according to Magnussen, who prefers the friendlier confines of the sports car world and being out of a Haas car that started every F1 weekend without a chance at winning.

“The whole atmosphere is drivers are here for the love of the sport, rather than on a mission to become the greatest in the world,” Magnussen said of international sports car racing. "And, I've gone for 10 years and never had a chance for winning. All those years, I knew that I didn't have a chance to win. I'm a racer and I'm competitive. I grew up wanting to become the best.

“And when you've done 10 years of knowing you can't win, that gets kind of old after a while.”

Next week's Rolex 24 will be the third of Magnussen's career. He ran for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 when he ran a full season with Ganassi in IMSA, and then it was his 2022 season-opening race as he prepared for a second year with Ganassi, only to be a late hire to return to Haas.

He said he has no desire to pursue a third opportunity in F1. He also isn't interested in IndyCar, calling it “the series that got away from me" because the years he could have been in an Indy car he was pursuing F1 instead. And, he said, he wouldn't try for an Indianapolis 500 ride because it isn't worth it unless he could get a seat with Ganassi, McLaren or Team Penske.

A large part of his contentment with sports cars is because Magnussen truly loves this racing after growing up watching it. His father, Jan, is a four-time sports car champion who won nearly 50 races.

The father and son raced together as co-drivers in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class. They were scheduled to pair again two years later at the Rolex 24, but Kevin Magnussen was a late scratch when he required surgery on his left wrist.

But sports cars are very much where Magnussen wants to be. He is 32 and has two young children, and with just 11 races solidified on his 2025 schedule — the bulk of the eight-race WEC schedule is in Europe — he can continue living in Denmark and have a comfortable life in cars he loved as an aspiring young racer.

“I came here so much as a kid and grew up at these races in a way and always knew I wanted to be a part of that,” Magnussen said. “As a young boy you look up to your dad and want to do what he is doing. I guess for many drivers, Formula 1 is like the pinnacle, which it is for me as well, but I certainly have an extra passion for sports car racing because I grew up with it."

He is grateful his two daughters got a little taste of his F1 career and were able to go to the track to see Daddy at his job. But he's excited for them to enjoy the easier atmosphere of sports car racing and the relaxed vibe in the paddock and motorhome lots.

“Sports car racing is more pure. I think people love what they do more in sports cars than they do in Formula 1. Because it’s so competitive (in F1) it can be kind of cold, in a way," Magnussen said. “I arrived here and see everyone smiling and looking forward to the race and everything. It’s a different vibe, different environment.”

The Rolex 24 at Daytona begins next Saturday. It is considered the most prestigious endurance race in North America and the opener of the 2025 motorsports season.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FILE - Haas driver Kevin Magnussen of Denmark walks through paddock as he arrives at the Lusail International Circuit in Lusail, Qatar, ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)