Former President John Draman Mahama’s quest to lead the National Democratic Congress, NDC, again has finally materialised as he has been elected as flagbearer of the party again.
The former President whipped six other contenders in the flagbearer race with 213,443 votes, constituting 95.24% of the total votes cast across.
He beat competition from Prof Joshua Alabi, Alban Bagbin, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Goosie Tanoh and Nurudeen Iddrisu to emerge as flagbearer of the party after Saturday’s primaries.
Close to 300,000 delegates took part in the primaries across all 275 constituencies.
Mr Mahama was followed by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Prof. Joshua Alabi, who polled a total of 3,399 votes, constituting 1.516 per cent of total votes cast.
Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin followed with 2,313 votes constituting 1.032 per cent followed by Goosie Tanoh, who polled 2,038 votes representing 0.909 per cent.
Former Trade Minister Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah placed fourth with 1,457 votes, constituting 0.650 per cent.
Sylvester Mensah came sixth with 932 votes, representing 0.425 per cent and Nurudeen Iddrisu appeared at the bottom with 519 votes, constituting 0.231 per cent.
Hours before the declaration of the final results, various polling stations across the country had given indications that the former President was in a comfortable lead.
The former President was in the lead in all constituencies across the country with the exception of the Nadowli/Kaleo Constituency, which is the home of contender Bagbin.
In Nadowli/Kaleo, Mr Bagbin polled 383 votes while John Mahama polled 367 votes. Mr. Bagbin, therefore, won by some 16 votes.
Prior to the primaries, many NDC bigwigs and political stalwarts had predicted the former President’s win, stating that he is the most marketable candidate of the party.
These bigwigs believed John Mahama is the best man to lead the NDC back to victory in the 2020 general elections.
And as is evident in the results, the former President gets the nod to lead the NDC again come 2020.
By Irene Amesimeku|3news.com| Ghana