#2020polls: Concede or go to court – Six Presidential candidates to Mahama

Six Presidential candidates in the 2020 election have called on the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama to concede defeat in the just ended December 7 polls or got to court for redress.

The advice comes after Mr Mahama and the NDC rejected the election results accusing the electoral Commission of rigging the polls in favour of the incumbent President, Nana Akufo-Addo.

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Following Mr Mahama’s refusal to accept the election results, there have been pockets of demonstrations by his supporters in some parts of the country raising concerns of destabilising the country’s peace.

But at a press conference organised jointly by Hassan Ayariga of the All People’s Congress (APC), David Apasera of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Ivor Greenstreet of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Henry Herbert Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Kofi Akpaloo of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and Independent Candidate, Kwame Asiedu Walker, the six candidates called for peace.

“We are calling on John Mahama that although his refusal to accept the result is democratic, we implore him and his followers to take democratic processes. Yes, protest is a form of the democratic process but it is indeterminate in the sense that you may not know what may happen during the demonstration,” Mr Walker said.

For his part, Hassan Ayariga called for a probe into alleged abuse by the military.

Mr Mahama is, however, calling for an independent forensic audit into the election results.

Speaking to the VOA on why he has refused to accept the results, the former President insisted: “The way they’ve conducted this election – the government, President Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission – is a dent to our democratic credentials and, so, in my principles, as a democrat, I can’t be seen to be sweeping it under the carpet and just letting it go”.

“I think we must bring closure to this by seeing exactly where the issues are”, he said.

According to the former President: “If an independent audit is done by the EC: we bring somebody, do an independent audit, if I lost, why not? I’ll be the first to concede and walk away but as long as that is not done and I know there was a deliberate attempt to subvert the will of the people in favour of the incumbent, it will be wrong for me in terms of our democratic practices to just leave it because we will not learn the lessons of this election. I think we must learn the lessons of this election so that we don’t repeat it in future.”

Mr Mahama described the 2020 polls as the most incompetent election conducted in Ghana’s history.