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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is going to the polls today to elect its flag bearer for the 2020 presidential election.
Seven bigwigs, the highest in the history of the party, participate in the national competition that will take place in the 275 constituencies and the party headquarters in Accra from 7 am to 5 pm.
However, in curfew areas such as Bunkpurugu, Saboba, Chereponi and Jaman South, where eight communities are on curfew, polling stations will close at 3 pm
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Bright competition
After a long time, the NDC is ready for the fight as a pillar of the seven parties, namely the second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Sumani K. Bagbin, businessman Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu, former president John Dramani Mahama, the former president and CEO. of the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), Mr. Sylvester Adinam Mensah (Sly); the former Minister of Commerce, Mr. Ekwow, Mr. Spio-Garbrah; Mr Augustus Goosie Tanoh and the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Accra (UPSA), Professor Joshua Alabi, were appointed and examined in order to participate in the vote, as stated in the opinion of ballot.
One of the seven candidates will win at the end of the day and become the NDC's flag bearer for the 2020 presidential election.
The winner will therefore compete with the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), even though the ruling party has not yet chosen its presidential candidate and the aspirants of the other political parties.
Internal competition
The last time the NDC participated in a competitive presidential election was in 2006, when the party had four candidates.
They were former President John Evans Atta Mills, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama and Eddie Annan. Professor Mills took the win with second place for Spio-Garbrah.
But the first day of today will be the first time that former President Mahama, who is expected to win, is facing internal competition to become the flag bearer of the NDC.
If he succeeds thanks to the wave of support, he will become the first outgoing president under the fourth Republican derogation to seek to recover the power he had lost against the current president Nana Akufo-Addo in the elections of 2016.
Mr. Mahama, then Vice President, became President in July 2012 when the Acting President, J.E.A. Mills, is dead. He became the NDC's flag bearer in the 2012 elections and won but eventually lost to the 2016 elections.
In the 2012 and 2016 elections, Mr. Mahama had no opposition and was in fact approved by the party because he did not have a candidate.
endorsements
In the 2015 NDC presidential election, for example, Mr. Mahama was hired by the NDC to challenge the 2016 presidential election with mbadive support of 95.10%.
The former President, who contested the first primary in the presidential election without opposition, won 1,199,118 "yes" votes against 61,836 votes "no", which represents 4.90%.
But at the 2012 Special Congress of National Delegates in Kumasi, the CND appointed President Mahama as the party's presidential candidate in 2012.
Mr. Mahama, the party's only candidate, won 2,767 votes, or 99.5% of the valid votes cast, to designate the party.
In the NDC internal polls of 2016 and 2012, Mr. Mahama collected on average 96% of the votes cast.
Political observers are eagerly seeking the voting margins that the former President will enjoy in today's election.
Aspiring optimists
Already, the camp of the former President is very optimistic and expects a convincing and overwhelming approval of not less than 90% of the vote.
But the other six flag candidates described the goal as "preparing for failure," saying the former president could not get such a high polling margin in today's polls.
Review of the party
The six candidates are of the opinion that with the reorganization of the party at the regional, national and branch levels, there should be a redesign of the party structure, with new faces to take the lead in business.
If there is a sign of thirst or thirst for change within the party, the presidential primary of today will be the litmus test.
While MM. Goosie Tanoh and Sylvester Mensah are counting on the support of the party at the base, Professor Alabi also hopes to get the support of delegates from North and Greater Accra. Alhaji Iddrisu, meanwhile, hopes that his youth will count for the election.
Bagbin and Ekow Spio-Garbrah rely on their wealth of political experience to advance the elections.
In the run-up to the 2020 elections, the six candidates believe that the NDC needs a neutral and unifying personality other than Mr. Mahama.
Key challenge
However, even if the party is ready and all the logistics are in place during the national exercise, the main challenge for the party is to have the approximately 281,000 delegates from the constituency centers vote.
Indeed, some of the party branches are 50 km or more from the voting centers.
Around 281,000 delegates across the country are expected to vote in the crucial decision-making process.
Delegates include nine executive members from each branch (polling station), 28 members of the constituency executive, the regional and national executive, as well as former members of the government, including chiefs of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Government (MMDCE) and MPs.
Delegates from foreign branches will vote at the party headquarters in Accra, while all other delegates will vote in their constituencies.
However, the delegates from Benin, Togo and Nigeria will vote in Aflao, in the constituency of South Ketu, while those from Côte d'Ivoire will vote in Elubo, in the constituency of Jomoro.
In accordance with the guidelines governing the conduct of elections, each candidate is entitled to three accreditations of the voting agent. which means that no polling station will be allowed to mount more than three voting units.
The electoral process will be overseen by the Electoral Commission (EC) and supported by the NDC Electoral and Executive Elections Directorate.
There will also be a national collection center of the EC and the CND will also have its own collection center which will serve as a check on what the EC brings together.
Party message
Mr. Peter Boamah Otukonor, deputy general secretary of the party, said that the party lived up to expectations and that it had a free and fair playing field.
He said the process was guided by the principle of transparency and that he was optimistic about the actual willingness of delegates to prevail after the elections, so that the one that emerged would present a powerful force in 2020.
Brief profile
Alban Bagbin
Mr. Bagbin, who wants the delegates to be guided by their inner voice, vote according to their conscience and do what is right for the CND to win the 2020 elections, is the second vice-president and the most senior member of the IVe. Republic.
He was Minister of Health in the Mills Administration and also Member of Parliament for Nadowli West in the Upper West region.
Mr. Bagbin announced his intention to run for president in 2008 with the NDC ticket, but he has never been a candidate for the primary. He became the leader of the majority in 2009.
Following a cabinet reshuffle in January 2010, he was appointed Minister of Water Resources, Public Works and Housing by President Mills.
He was also confirmed as majority parliamentary leader in the administration of President Mahama.
Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu
Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu, who lamented the monetization of politics in the country and called on party delegates to choose competence and commitment to the detriment of money and material gains, is a former banker and consultant in oil and gas .
An NDC activist, he supported many of the party's activities, including providing financial support for the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, and organizing the party's campaign platforms to spread the party's message across the country.
Born in 1975, Alhaji Iddrisu did his basic education at TI Ahmadiyya Primary School between 1981 and 1987, after which he continued his education at Achimota School in Accra, where he attended a regular education from 1988 to 1993 .
He got a BSc. Marketing Administration of the University of Ghana, Legon, in 2003, and then an MBA in finance from the same institution in 2011.
He has extensive experience in the oil industry. As Business Development Manager, he worked with Oando Supply & Trading to import crude and refined petroleum products to Ghana.
After several years of experience in business and politics, Alhaji Iddrisu is now ready to carry the NDC party flag.
John Dramani Mahama
John Dramani Mahama, born November 29, 1958, was President of Ghana from July 24, 2012 to January 7, 2017. Previously, he was Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012 and took office on July 24, 2012. Following the death from President John Atta Mills.
Mr. Mahama is an expert in communication, historian and writer. He was MP for 1997 to 2009 and Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001.
He is the first vice president to have acceded to the presidency following the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills, and the first Ghanaian state leader to be born after the independence of Ghana.
He was elected for a full term as president in the December 2012 elections. He challenged his reelection for a second term in the 2016 election, but was defeated in the first round by the NPP candidate. , Nana Akufo-Addo, whom he had defeated in 2012.
Sylvester Mensah
Mr. Sylvester Mensah served from 1997 to 2001 as a Member of Parliament for the Dadekotopon constituency in the Greater Accra region. He served as Executive Director of the National Health Insurance Authority from 2009 to 2015.
Sylvester Mensah is a member of the NDC with his infantry roots during the revolutionary period. He was the first regional organizer of the CND for the youth of Greater Accra in 1992. He became regional secretary of the party from 1994 to 2001.
In 2005, he ran for secretary general of the party and was defeated by General Mosquito – Mr. Asiedu Nketia.
He is currently a member of the Party Elders Council in Greater Accra Region and Chairman of the Party Finance Committee in the region. During the last elections, he was the coordinator of the regional campaign.
Spio-Garbrah
Mr. Spio-Garbrah, who is of the opinion that it is time for the country to elect altruistic and slave leaders if we want to preserve, ensure and ensure the well-being of Ghanaians, was born in 1953.
As a diplomat and politician, he was former Minister of Commerce and Industry, former Minister of Communications, former Minister of Education and former Acting Minister of Mines and Energy.
He has also been Ghana's ambbadador to the United States and Mexico. He is a former CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) based in London.
In December 2006, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah challenged the leadership of Ghana's main opposition party, winning 8.7 percent of the vote. He came in second behind John Atta Mills, who later won Ghana's presidential election in 2008.
On January 15, 2010, Mr. Spio-Garbrah was elected Vice President of the NDC and appointed Director of the Party's Communications Branch.
Goosie Tanoh
Augustus "Goosie" Obuadum Tanoh (born February 7, 1956) is a politician and international businessman who has served in both the public and private sectors in Ghana.
He was the leader of the National Reform Party (NRP), a splinter group of the NDC between 1999 and 2007, and represented that party in the 2000 presidential election, where he garnered 1.1% of the national vote.
He returned to the CND with his PNR colleagues at the request and following several appeals launched by the late President Atta Mills in 2007/2008. Mr. Tanoh is originally a founding member of the NDC.
Alabi
Professor Joshua Alabi, who calls for a change of direction and a new lease of life for the NDC in its march to win the 2020 elections, hopes to have experience in youth leadership, national governance, political party leadership , sports and education management will intervene as soon as it will have the opportunity to serve the NDC as a standard bearer and go further in the direction of the country's governance process.
Mr. Alabi (born March 1, 1958) is a trained Ghanaian political and academic man who was the first vice-chancellor of the University of Accra (UPSA) from 2012 to 2016.
Previously, he was rector of the same institution from 2009 to 2012 and Pro-rector from 2005 to 2008. In Ghanaian politics, Mr. Alabi was deputy of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of the Krowor constituency in the Greater Accra Region 1997-2001 and Minister of State for Greater Accra and North respectively from 1997 to 2001.
Mr. Alabi is a member of the National Democratic Congress. He led the reorganization of the party in the Greater Accra region in 2001 after the defeat of the 2000 NPP elections.
After the reorganization, he became the first former party minister to compete and was elected NDC regional president in the Greater Accra region from 2001 to 2005.
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