NDC's election petition not out of a desire for power – Mahama

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Mahama, says he hopes to remove all forms of doubt from the presidential election results with his resorting to the Supreme Court with an election petition.

In an address after filing his petition earlier on Wednesday, he said his motivations were no different from Nana Akufo-Addo, who challenged the election results in 2012 after a defeat.

“Understand that it is not because of a desire for power but because of a dedication to principle and a commitment to democracy.”

“I want the removal of doubt. I want for all of us to know that our elections should be free fair and safe and that we do not have to settle for a process that leaves us confused and with more questions than answers,” Mr. Mahama said.

He stressed that in pursuit of democratic principles, surrender was not an option.

“Whenever we decide to take the easiest road, the first step is always surrender and often the thing that we lose is the very thing that we value the most.”

Mr. Mahama also noted that ensuring accountability was key to his petition.

“I want a Ghana were institutions of state can be held to account, where we can stand on principle and demand transparency without the risk of losing our lives.”

President Akufo-Addo won the election with 51.3 percent of the votes while Mr. Mahama followed with 47.7 percent of the valid votes cast.

However, the NDC refused to accept the results because of its claims of malfeasance in the polls.

Mr. Mahama's grievances hinge on the conduct of the polls in the Techiman South Constituency.

The EC declared the winner of the presidential election when the Techiman South Constituency results were pending.

But Mr. Mahama in his petition argued that if all the votes of Techiman South Constituency were added to his votes, President Akufo-Addo's votes would remain at 6,730,413, now yielding 49.625 percent of the votes, while his would increase to 6,342,907, now yielding 46.768 percent.

The petition seeks among others, a declaration from the Supreme Court to the effect that, “the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on the 9th day of December 2020 is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

Mr. Mahama has also asked the Supreme Court to compel the Electoral Commission to conduct a second election with just him and the incumbent as candidates.

— citinewsroom