Official results from the Electoral Commission (EC) certify former President John Dramani Mahama as the elected flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 general elections.
He polled 213,487, representing 95.23% of the total valid votes cast in the NDC’s primaries.
Other six contenders in the race managed to secure just about 4% of valid votes.
John Mahama beat every other contender in their own constituency, except Alban Bagbin of Nadowli/Kaleo Constituency.
Alban Bagbin polled 383 while John Mahama polled 367.
1,327 Rejected ballots
Of the 225,521 votes cast, total valid votes was 224,184 while total rejected ballots was 1,327.
The high number of rejected ballots is worrying because those who voted were expected to have a better appreciation of the voting system and teach others to do so for their party in the general election.
Prof Alabi polled 3,404 (1.516 %)
A former Vice-Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof Joshua Alabi came second with 3,399 votes, representing 1.516% of the total valid votes cast.
Bagbin secured 2,301 votes (1.03%)
The Second Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli/Kaleo, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, polled 2,301, representing 1.03% of the total votes cast, to place third.
Goosie polled 2,091 (0.93%)
Goosie Tanoh, founder of the Reformed Party, which he formed after breaking away from the NDC, came fourth with 2,091 votes, representing 0.93%.
Spio-Garbrah secured 1,447 votes (0.65%)
Former Trade and Industry Minister in the Mahama government, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah received 1,447 votes, representing 0.65% of the total votes, to place fifth.
Sylvester Mensah polled 934 votes (0.42 %)
Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah secured 934 of valid votes cast, representing 0.42%, and took the sixth position.
Nurudeen Iddrisu polled 520 (0.23%)
A businessman, Nurudeen Iddrisu placed seventh with 520 votes, representing 0.23%.
To understand the size of his victory, John Mahama won by a larger percentage contesting six others than he won when he stood unchallenged in the 2015 NDC presidential primaries.
In that 2015 YES/NO vote, he won 95.1% of the votes in a poll in which the ballot paper had only his picture.
6 Concede defeat
Prior to the declaration of results by the Electoral Commission (EC) at the NDC’s Headquarters in Accra, all the six losing candidates conceded defeat and pledged their support to former President John Mahama.
Let’s trust each other going into Election 2020 – Mahama
Former President Mahama called on the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to trust each other and be united going into Election 2020.
“Let us be one; let us trust each other and let us not believe the stories that we circulated trying to undermine one another,” he said.
Former President Mahama said this when he addressed party leaders and supporters at the NDC Headquarters shortly after he was declared winner in the presidential primary Sunday morning.
Former President Mahama advised members of the NDC to ensure that the seeds of disaffection being sowed by their political opponents never germinate.
Former President Mahama dedicated his victory to the entire party faithful, and pledged to work closely with them, especially the six other candidates, to ensure an emphatic victory in 2020.
He gave the assurance of working tirelessly with all NDC functionaries to achieve the party’s common objective of wrestling power from the New Patriotic Party.
He noted that he was deeply touched by the overwhelming endorsement he has received from the grassroots of the party.
“Our party has spoken with one voice, and I must say we are all winners,” former President Mahama said.
He pledged to work closely and tirelessly with all stakeholders so that the party’s common objective of returning to power would be realised.
One person injured at Prampram
Meanwhile, one person sustained injury on his face Saturday at the Prampram Anglican School when confusion erupted among delegates voting in the party’s presidential primaries.
The confusion emanated as a result of some missing names from the register as three branches were excluded.
The election was disrupted in the morning when it came to light that even though Mr Michael Tetteh, Chairman of the NDC for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, said he submitted the registers of all the 92 branches, only 89 were available with the Electoral Commission officials conducting the election.
The situation led to the representatives of Goosie Tanoh and Professor Joshua Alabi, two of the seven aspirants in the election, filing a protest.
The election resumed after an agreement was reached that all the branches should be allowed to vote, starting with the 89 branches, after the constituency executives had a discussion with the national executives.
Delegates were casting their votes smoothly until Mr Sam Nartey George, Member of Parliament for the area, arrived at the centre, challenging why those three branches should be allowed to vote.
This led to exchanges of words, which degenerated into fisticuffs, leading to one man sustaining injury on his face, with blood oozing out.
Some of the executives from the affected branches questioned what right the MP had to determine those who were eligible to vote, saying, “Sam George is not more Ghanaian than us, therefore he cannot prevent us from voting”.
Source: The Finder
