Former President John Dramani Mahama has emerged as the flagbearer-elect of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) after securing a landslide victory at the party’s just-ended primaries.
Mr. Mahama, who served as Ghana’s president for one term from 2012 to 2016, swept 297,603, representing 98.9 percent of the total vPolitics alid votes, while his only contender Kojo Bonsu managed to poll 3,181, representing 1.1 percent of the votes.
The declaration of results by the Electoral Commission’s returning officer was done in the late hours of Sunday, May 14, at the party’s head office in Accra.
Mr. Mahama, who failed in his bid for the presidency in the 2016 and 2020 general elections, will now lead the NDC into the 2024 general elections.
He went into the contest with former Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, and former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu.
However, Dr. Duffuor chickened out of the race after claiming concerns he raised about discrepancies with the party’s electoral roll were unresolved.
The campaign team of Mahama had earlier indicated that they were confident of securing 99.9% of the votes in the primaries.
Deputy spokesperson of the team, Beatrice Annan, said the rousing welcome the team received in all the 275 constituencies they visited ahead of the primaries strengthened and solidified their belief of an overwhelming victory in the flagbearership race.
Mr. Mahama served as Vice President from January 2009 to July 2012 and took over as president in accordance with law on July 24, 2012, following the death of his boss, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills.
He went on to win the December 2012 election and served as President for one term (four years).
He was unsuccessful in his re-election bid in 2016 and 2020 after he was defeated by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Mr. Mahama is a communication expert, historian, and writer.
He was a Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi from 1997 to 2009 and served as Deputy Minister for Communications between 1997 and 1998 before becoming the substantive Minister for Communications in 1998.
He is the first head of state of Ghana to have been born after Ghana’s independence.
By Vincent Kubi