Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has been selected by former Ghana president John Mahama as his running mate for this year’s presidential election.

Representing the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), she becomes the first woman on a major Ghanaian party’s presidential ticket.

The 69-year_old Opoku-Agyemang, is a former education minister and university professor. She was also the first female vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in 2008.

The former president called her “God-fearing, a distinguished scholar, a conscientious public servant and a role model”.

The Dec. 7 poll will pit Mahama, who governed from 2012 to early 2017, against his successor, President Nana Akufo-Addo, who defeated him in the late 2016 election.

The presidency has changed hands repeatedly between the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP and ex-president Mahama’s NDC since 1992 in a series of peaceful elections that have cemented Ghana’s reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.