Ghana’s main opposition leader has vocalized his plane to launch a legal challenge to his presidential election defeat.
National Democratic Congress leader John Dramani Mahama will file a petition to the nation’s supreme court on Dec. 29 seeking a recount. Mahama, 62, who was President of Ghana from 2011 to 2016, rejects the official results in both the presidential and parliamentary elections.
“What we witnessed across the country from 7 December, 2020, exposed a deliberate plan to manipulate and pre-determine the results of the election in favour of the incumbent, Nana Akufo-Addo,” Mahama told a press conference at NDC headquarters in Accra on 10 December.
Mahama secured 47.4% of the vote, compared with 51.6% for incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo, the New Patriot Party leader.
The former president has accused Akufo-Addo of using the military to intimidate voters and “reverse election results.”
Akufo-Addo denies the allegations.
“The National Democratic Congress has decided to proceed to the Supreme Court to contest the results of the rigged elections of December 7. The decision follows a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our party on Tuesday in Accra,” a statement reads via Mahama’s official Twitter account. “While in court, the NDC will continue all legitimate actions, including protests, to demand the enforcement of the rule of law and protection of life and property of the good people of Ghana. #RespectMyVote,” the statement concludes.
John Boadu, general secretary of the NPP, responded to the NDC’s claims of fraud, stating: “Creating insinuations creates a lack of credibility on our whole election process … We are happy to announce that for the next parliament it is obvious from the results declared across the constituencies that the NPP will still maintain a majority in parliament.”
