Election 2020 : EC Chairperson Declares NPP’s Nana Addo-Dankwa Winner In 2020 Presidential Election, But his Party Has Slim Majority
The Chair Person of the Electoral Commission Of Ghana , Mrs Jean Mensah has declared Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, winner in the 2020 Presidential Election.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) Presidential Candidate polled 6, 730,413 votes representing 51.59% of the total votes cast as against his main contender, candidate John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who had 6,214,889 or 47 % of the total votes collated by the EC.
Mrs. Mensah who made the much expected disclosure at a press conference in Accra said the results declared did not include figures from the Techiman South Constituency in the Bono East Region.
The total number of registered voters for the election was 17,077,621 with the re-election of Nana Addo for a second term in office an established tradition in Ghana where President s enjoy the luxury to complete a two four-year term of office since the fourth Republic was introduced appears to be gaining grounds. Both the late Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor had the benefit of this tradition.
With Nana Addo’s victory former President Mahama has been halted in his tracks as he attempted to benefit from this tradition.
The declaration of the results of this year’s election was first scheduled for 5-00 PM yesterday but had to be re-scheduled for today because of what the EC said were a few challenges, including unexpected rains which halted voting in some polling stations leading to a few delays coupled with the usual requests for recounting in some polling stations.
She apologized for the extension of the deadline for the declaration of the outcome lamenting that “Man proposes, God disposes.” Mrs Mensah acknowledged.
There were no major incidents or occurrences which could have thwarted the Commission’s efforts to ensure a smooth exercise.
“This is a historic election because this is the first time that the Election day went by without major incidents and occurrences. It is no wonder that the BBC described this year’s election as “boring” – a testament to the seamless, incident-free process that we witnessed yesterday.” She recounted.
She made special reference to the outbreak of the COVID-19 but said” we were able to overcome the this challenge because of established strong systems.
“We were hit by the COVID-19 when we least expected it. In the face of this, we remained resolute, determined to deliver credible, transparent and peaceful elections in Ghana. We persevered throughout the lockdown to establish strong and efficient systems and processes that would stand the test of time.
Mrs Mensah noted that with joy that no externally sourced funding was secured to support the Commission’s activities.
“We can be proud of the fact that for the first time in our history, the election was funded without donor assistance. I can assure you that we put our resources to prudent use.”
She continued, “We subjected this process to a robust and rigorous procurement process, even then as, from the very onset, we faced stiff opposition from within and without.” She said.
According to her, “more than 95% of the Commission’s procurement for the 2020 Election was done through an open, competitive tender process as opposed to sole sourcing and restricted tendering as was the case in the past. This no doubt ensured value for money in all our processes.” She said.
The EC chairperson commended her team for proving to the world that, “Yes we can” by remaining focus and also being determined while depending on God as their source of help .
She also paid glowing tribute to civil society organizations and election monitoring groups as well as the press for their cooperation and support.
“We look forward to receiving the full reports as they will no doubt help us strengthen our work and processes.. Mrs Mensah noted