Former President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated that 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections were not free and fair- Mahama.
He mentioned acts such as “voter suppression tactics, the killing of 8 innocent Ghanaians by security personnel and the hostile posturing of the EC as factors that cast a dark cloud over the 2020 elections”.
In an interview with URA Radio in Bolgatanga as part of his Thank you tour to the Upper East Region, Mr. Mahama said “When you have these strange happenings and things like that happen, it doesn’t give much confidence in the Electoral Commission that is supposed to be a neutral arbiter in our electoral process. The posturing of the Electoral Commission before, during, and after our elections has just shown certain hostility toward our party.”
The former President also said the NDC increased its votes from around 4 million to over 6 million votes in the Presidential elections adding “but for arm twisting, we would have had 145 seats, and won a clear majority in Parliament.”
On 9 December, the Electoral Commission announced that incumbent 76-year-old Akufo-Addo, flagbearer for the center-right New Patriotic Party, had won 51.6% of the votes in the presidential contest, about half of the million vote margin that brought him victory in 2016 (when he got 53.7% of the votes).
Reading the ruling of the Supreme Court on 4th March 2021, Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said the petitioner did not satisfy all the 5 issues outlined by the court to determine the case, therefore, Nana Akufo-Addo was retained as a leader, following a seven-member panel of the country’s top court Judges’ dismissal of the election petition filed by main opposition leader John Mahama.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court said this is because the case had no merit.
In 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo won with 53.8%. Four years earlier, in 2012, John Mahama had 50.7% of the votes.
John Mahama who maintained the legitimacy of his challenge over alleged irregularities in the results said “As much as I’m aware that we’re legally bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court, I disagree with the process of the trial and the ruling of the court,” he told supporters after the ruling.
“We may have lost the temporary battle of the 2020 election and the petition that has followed, but the larger struggle to create a society that lives up to our national motto of freedom and justice still rages on,” he said.
Mahama has started a nationwide tour to thank Ghanaians for their support and voting for him and the NDC Parliamentary Candidates.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
