NDC presidential race: Mahama wins third place on the ballot, Bagbin 1st

Policy of Thursday, January 24, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-01-24

Former President John Dramani Mahama has chosen third place on the ballot at the next presidential primary of the National Democratic Congress, scheduled for February 23, 2019.

At the vote on Wednesday, the Nadowli-Kaleo MP, Alban Bagbin, chose the first place, followed by Nurudeen Iddrisu's businessman.

Fourth place was chosen by Sylvester Mensah, followed by Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Goosie Tanoh and Professor Joshua Alabi in that order.

The slot poll took place today, Wednesday, January 23, 2019, at the party headquarters in Accra.

The five candidates were duly screened Tuesday at the NDC headquarters, each expressing confidence in a winner of the party primaries.

Bede-Ziedin, the NDC's acting chief electoral officer, told the media that the ballot papers would be printed from February 3 to 17, 2019, after which they would be sent to all the electoral district centers where the elections will take place.

Without an injunction on the presidential election of the NDC, the party would have conducted the exercise before the end of January 2019.

The NDC finally agreed to declare its guidelines for the presidential primaries null and void after transparency challenges and filing fees that were reduced along the line.

In addition to agreeing to hold the elections in a free, fair and transparent manner, the party also agreed to consider the 300,000 GHc not only as filing fees, but also as a contribution to primary primary costs.

"Once the candidates have been selected by the selection committee, the voter register will be presented to them," said NDC national president Samuel Ofosu Ampofo at an earlier press conference.

The first poll will be available on January 26, 2019 and the final print will be made on January 28, 2019.

The party also announced 276 polling stations across the country; a derogation from the centralized voting system that has been much criticized for national executives.

"According to the Electoral Commission, all constituencies where the total number of registered voters exceeds 1,000 people will create additional voting booths in the same voting center."