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Election day has arrived in Ghana, where a debt crisis and high living costs mean the economy is uppermost in the minds of many voters.<\/p>\n
The West African nation is guaranteed a new president as Nana Akufo-Addo steps down after reaching the official limit of two terms in office.<\/p>\n
But he could be replaced with a familiar face, if former President John Mahama succeeds in his comeback attempt for the NDC party.<\/p>\n
His main challenger is expected to be Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, who would become the country’s first Muslim leader if he wins for the governing NPP party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Other candidates include Nana Kwame Bediako, a businessman popular with young voters and Alan Kyerematen, who defected from the ruling NPP party last year.<\/p>\n
Close to 19 million Ghanaians are registered to vote.<\/p>\n
Despite Ghana recently bringing in tougher legislation to drive up the numbers of women in frontline politics<\/a>, only one woman is in the running to become president – Nana Akosua Sarpong Frimpomaa of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).<\/p>\n The only other female presidential candidate in this election – Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party – died in October. Yet her name will still be listed on ballot papers because the candidate chosen to succeed her was disqualified.<\/p>\n Saturday’s general election also sees voters in 275 constituencies across the country choosing their members of parliament.<\/p>\n Since the return of multi-party politics to Ghana in 1992, only candidates from either the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have won the presidency.<\/p>\n No party has ever won more than two consecutive terms in power.<\/p>\n Voters have a 10-hour window on Saturday to cast their ballots – 07:00-17:00 GMT.<\/p>\n Ghana’s land borders have been closed until Sunday evening, in a move that correspondents describe as unusual. <\/p>\n Election results are set to be announced within three days.<\/p>\n In order to win in the first round, a presidential candidate must gain more than 50% of the vote. Failing that, the top two contenders will enter a run-off vote to take place by the end of December.<\/p>\n Voting for the first time, 18-year-old Serwaa Yeboah Joshebeth told the BBC “it is important for you to vote to choose the best for your country”.<\/p>\n The recent graduate wants to see more job opportunities, “not for me alone but for others who need them [too].”<\/p>\n Kojo Yeboah, 95, agrees.<\/p>\n “The next leader must focus on education and jobs for the youth,” the retired university worker told the BBC outside a polling booth in the city of Kumasi.<\/p>\n “I benefit from stipends from the state at my age already,” he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As campaigns came to a close on Friday, Bawumia said of his main rival: “What is clear is that notwithstanding the challenges we’ve had, we have performed better than the government of John Dramani Mahama.”<\/p>\n While Mahama told supporters “it is a choice between the Ghana we have today and the Ghana we want together. A Ghana of opportunity, prosperity, and justice for all.”<\/p>\n Ghanaians have been hit particularly hard by inflation in recent years, which reached a peak of 54.1% in 2022. Although it has since come down, many thousands of people have been pushed into poverty and living standards have suffered, says the World Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n That same year, Ghana defaulted on its debt repayments and the government is still in lengthy negotiations with international lenders to try and restructure the loans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unemployment is also at a high – particularly among the young, whose views could have a big impact on the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Damian Zane<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n