Akufo-Addo first ran for president in 2008 and again in 2012, both times as the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He lost on both occasions to National Democratic Congress' candidates: John Evans Atta Mills in 2008 and John Dramani Mahama in 2012. After the 2012 general elections, He refused to concede and proceeded to court to challenge the electoral results, but the Supreme Court of Ghana affirmed John Dramani Mahama’s victory. He was chosen as the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party for a third time for the 2016 general elections and this time, he defeated John Dramani Mahama in the first round (winning with 53.85% of the votes), which marked the first time in a Ghanaian presidential election that an opposition candidate won a majority outright in the first round. He again secured an outright majority in the first round of the 2020 general elections (winning with 51.59% of the vote) defeating John Dramani Mahama, and was dully sworn at exactly 1:03 pm GMT on the 7th of January 2021.