Former President John Dramani Mahama has once again secured the slot to lead the National Democratic Congress [NDC] in the 2024 Presidential election.
Certified results by the Electoral Commission [EC] showed that Mr Mahama polled an overwhelming 297,603 votes representing 98.9% of the total valid votes cast at the end of the NDC Primaries on Saturday.
His closet contender, the former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu, polled a paltry 3,181 votes representing 1.1%.
The other contender in the NDC flagbearer race, former Finance Minister in the Mills regime, Kwabena Duffour, pulled out on Friday.
This is the fourth time John Dramani Mahama will be leading the NDC into an election.
Then Vice President John Dramani Mahama who took over from President John Evans Atta-Mills when the latter died while in office in July 2012, went on to win the election later that year.
As an incumbent, he first lost to the then New Patriotic Party [NPP] presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2016, becoming the first President to serve only one full term.
He won the flagbearership race in February 2019 with an overwhelming endorsement of 95% votes to represent the NDC in the 2020 election, but he lost to incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who was declared the winner of the December 7 election with 51.59% ahead of the NDC candidate who received 47.37%.
Mr Mahama challenged the outcome at the Supreme Court, arguing that Akufo-Addo’s votes in some polling stations were padded, pushing him above the 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off.
He lost the court challenge. Once again, delegates of the opposition party in a decisive outcome in 2019 gave the former President the go-ahead to lead the party as its flagbearer into the 2020 polls. He again lost.
In many recent interviews, Mr Mahama has said that with the benefit of hindsight, he has realized his mistakes and wants another opportunity to lead the country.
Mr Mahama told journalists after casting his vote on Saturday that, “his [Duffour’s] withdrawal at the last minute does not change anything, I just voted, there are many delegates going to vote, the result will still be what it is, and I expect it to be a landslide.”
He added that “There is no disunity in the party, absolutely not. One contender was dissatisfied with the process, it does not mean there is disunity in the party.
“NDC is a family and all of them are part of that family, as long as they are willing to come together and let us work toward 2024, I don’t think there is any problem, the party will make overtures”
On Friday, May 12, Dr Kwabena Duffour officially pulled out from the NDC presidential contest.
Addressing a presser, the former Finance Minister stated that his decision was based on his grievances with the processes, especially the voters register, which he thought did not guarantee free and fair elections.
He explained that the exercise was marred by a lot of irregularities; a situation that was not resolved by the leadership of the party.
