For the first time after winning the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential flagbearership election, former president John Dramani Mahama has spoken.

In the election held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, the former president won by a wide margin with 297,603 (98.9%) votes versus his rival Kojo Bonsu’s 3,181 (1.1%) votes.

The declaration was made in the early hours of May 14, 2023 by the returning officer for the Electoral Commission.

In his speech, he expressed his gratitude for the support and called the result a success for the NDC as a whole.

He praised God for a largely incident-free campaign as he traveled around the nation to solicit votes.

He expressed gratitude to constituency executives for their assistance throughout his nationwide travels.

In addition, he expressed gratitude to Kojo Bonsu, the only other candidate, and Dr. Kwabena Dufuor, one of the three contestants who withdrew at the last minute.

Mahama told the party that the ultimate goal—gaining political power in 2024—must be their focus.

Prior to the 2012 general election, John Dramani Mahama succeeded his employer John Evans Atta Mills as president of Ghana. Atta Mills had passed away.

Later, the NDC put John Mahama up as its candidate for president in the 2012 presidential election, when he defeated Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party to win.

When John Mahama was chosen as the NDC’s flagbearer in 2020, he attempted to regain the power he had lost to Nana Akufo-Addo in 2016 but was unsuccessful.

John Mahama was widely endorsed by the NDC before to the 2023 presidential primaries and was assumed to be the party’s presumptive flagbearer.

EC confirms John Mahama the winner of the 2023 NDC Presidential Primaries with 98.8% of the legitimate ballots.