Mahama gets 95.10 per cent NDC endorsement for 2016 elections
President John Dramani Mahama has been endorsed to lead the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 general elections.
Advertisement
This was after he secured an overwhelming 1,199 118 'YES' votes representing 95.10 per cent from party members in a presidential primaries held on Saturday and Sunday.
The President went into the contest unopposed but had to be endorsed per the rules of the party.
Out of a total of 1, 286 728 party members who cast their votes, 61,836 voted 'NO' to President Mahama’s candidature in 265 out of 275 constituencies. The "NO" votes represented 4.90 per cent of a total 1, 260 954 valid votes cast.
Rejected ballots representing 2 per cent were 25,774.
Mr Mahama is seeking a second term, having won the 2012 presidential elections. He was elevated from the position of Vice President after the death of President John Mills with a few months to the end of his tenure in 2012.
In an a speech moments after the endorsement was announced late Sunday night at the NDC headquaters at Adabraka in Accra, President Mahama said he felt humbled by the overwhelming endorsement.
He said as a leader of the party not all members will agree with his style of governance and decisions but yet he believed they have the same objective and need to work together to achieve their shared dreams.
“I wish to thank those who voted YES to endorse my candidature but also wish to thank those who voted NO either in error or deliberately.”
According to the President, “…it is the interaction of agreement and descent that creates human progress. You cannot produce energy or electric power with only the positive pole. You need the positive pole and negative pole to produce energy. So in voting NO, those who voted NO have proven that our party has enough space and tolerance to accommodate descent.”
He said NDC has set a standard which would be emulated by other parties not only in Ghana but in other African countries and said the 95.10 per cent endorsement he received was significantly higher than the 50 per cent plus one vote endorsement the NDC constitution requires him to obtain.
“With the novelty of this great new system and the greater participation it afforded all members of our party to vote in this primary, I feel very humbled by this overwhelming endorsement I have received this evening”
Writer's email: [email protected] Tel: +233 302 201 501