The National Democratic Congress’s (NDC)Presidential Candidate in the 2020 general election, John Mahama, has justified why he is heading to court to challenge the results of the recently ended polls.
Mahama through his lawyers filed a petition at the Supreme Court over the 2020 election results on Wednesday, December 30, 2020.
Few hours after filing the petition he held a press conference and said his main motivations were no different from Nana Akufo-Addo, who challenged the election results in 2012 after a defeat.
“Some people have asked me what I hope to gain by challenging the results of this election. Let me tell you: I want, perhaps, the very same thing that my opponent wanted when in 2012 he challenged the results of that election; 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.
“I want a Ghana where institutions of the state can be held to account. Where we can stand on principle and demand transparency without the risk of losing our lives”
The EC announced that 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.
