Mahama is NDC flagbearer again; sweeps 98.9% of the votes

Former President John Dramani Mahama will lead the opposition National Democratic Congress into the 2024 general elections after securing a landslide victory at the just-ended primaries of the party.

John Mahama, the one-term president, failed in his bid for the presidency in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

During the NDC’s primaries held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, Mr. Mahama swept 297,603 (98.9%) of the total valid votes emerging as the flagbearer-elect of the NDC.

His contender Kojo Bonsu managed to poll 3,181 (1.1%) votes.

Declaration of results by the Electoral Commission’s returning officer was done in the wee hours of Sunday, May 14.

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 big news was announced at the party’s head office in Accra.

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 has strengthened and solidified their belief of an overwhelming victory in the flagbearership race.

Kojo Bonsu earlier congratulated John Dramani Mahama for winning the primaries by a landslide victory.

In a Facebook post, the former Kumasi Mayor disclosed that he had placed a call to Mr Mahama to congratulate him on his victory.

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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 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 Communication 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.