Ghanaian Presidential Election: Opposition Candidate Heads To Court

President of Ghana and candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has filed a petition to challenge the presidential results of the recently concluded 2020 general elections in the country.

The petition, filed against the country’s electoral commission and current President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who was re-elected, came after Mahama earlier vowed to dispute the election results

Mahama, in the petition submitted by his lawyers, argued that the presidential results as declared by the country’s electoral commission chairperson, Jean Mensa, were flawed and did not represent the will of the people.

The NDC presidential candidate also described the electoral commission’s verdict as fictitious, stating that the results were manufactured to favour the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The petition, dated December 30 with Writ Number J1/5/2021 and titled ‘Presidential Election Petition’ has been submitted before the Supreme Court of Accra.

The party’s stance has since been strongly defended by NDC supporters who have hit the streets to demand that the announcement be overturned.

The party has, however, maintained that it will continue with all legitimate actions that are currently being used by party supporters to drum home their demand.

Akufo-Addo was declared the winner of the December 7 vote with 51.59 percent, ahead of the opposition National Democratic Party’s (NDC) candidate, former President Mahama, who had 47.37 percent of the votes.

The development comes amid preparations for President Akufo-Addo’s swearing-in ceremony scheduled for January 7, 2021.