NDC executive members predict landslide victory for John Mahama
National Democratic Congress (NDC) executive members for Ayawaso East, Ayawaso North and Ayawaso Central constituencies in Accra have predicted that former President John Dramani Manama will secure between 95 per cent and 98 per cent of the votes in their respective constituencies.
In separate interviews with the Daily Graphic on Saturday, they argued that the view by majority of the NDC delegates was that Mr Mahama (JDM) was the preferred candidate to wrestle power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 election.
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The NDC Chairman for Ayawaso East, Mr Olabode Wiliams, the NDC Constituency Chairman for Ayawaso Central, Mr Della Jeraldo, and the NDC Vice Chairman for Ayawaso North, Alhaji Abdul - Manaf Walker, said the party was campaigning on the legacy and achievements of JDM, and so he needed to be given the nod to lead the NDC to victory.
They said many other Ghanaians were yearning for the return of JDM to rescue the country from the incompetent and inefficient NPP government.
According to them, Ghanaians were suffering from hardship, insecurity, fear and panic and they had the hope that JDM would fix the challenges.
The executive members dismissed the fact that JDM had only one term, and indicated that the crucial thing now was getting power for the NDC in the next election.
They said the other six flag bearer aspirants were good but that the party could not market them region by region, constituency by constituency and ward by ward to win the 2020 election.
Mr Williams predicted 98 per cent for JDM, while Mr Walker and Mr Jeraldo both predicted 97 per cent for JDM.
Almost 280,000 delegates of the NDC are expected to cast their vote to elect a flag bearer to represent the party in the upcoming 2020 Election.
The other aspirants include the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin; former Vice Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi; former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah.
The rest are a former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah; businessman, Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu, and a cadre, Mr Goosie Tanoh.
Peaceful election
Voting is going on peacefully and smoothly at the Ayawaso East, Ayawaso North and Ayawaso Central constituencies visited by the Graphic Online team.
The police officers were at the various polling stations to provide security, and the party executive members indicated that the party had not deployed any members to provide security.
Voting started at the official time of 7am at the ACC Cluster of Schools Polling Station in the Ayawaso East Constituency.
The Returning Officer, Mr Azila Innocent, told Graphic Online that all the voting materials, such as voters' register, indelible ink, and validation stamp and ballot papers were all ready before the start of the voting exercise.
He described the process as smooth as he had not recorded any disturbing incident.
As at 9:11 am, a total of 218 out of the 814 registered delegates had cast their ballots.
The Nima District Commander, Superintendent I. K. Amemo, told Graphic Online that only police officers were deployed to provide security for the election.
At the Ayawaso North Constituency, voting started at 7:05 am at the Adansimam Polling Station and as at 10:19, a total of 422 delegates out of the 829 registered delegates voted.
The Presiding Officer for the Ayawaso North, Mr Seth Clifford Dodoo Amponsah, said he had not recorded any challenges so far.
Voting began at 7:15 am at the Wembley Polling Station at the Ayawaso Central Constiuency, and as at 10:50 am, 279 delegates out of the 612 registered delegates had voted at the Polling Station B, while 283 delegates out of the 665 registered delegates had cast their ballots at the Polling Station B as at 11:19.