Presidential Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has called to question the credibility of the Electoral Commission (EC) following the Chairperson’s announcement of his defeat to President-elect Akufo-Addo in the just ended 2020 elections.

According to him, data available to his party from across all the 16 regions of Ghana shows that he had won the 2020 Presidential Elections and that any other pronouncement by the EC was evidence of manipulation of figures.

“It is now obvious to many objective minds that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission has been used to manipulate results from the various constituencies and in that process seek to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghana People,” he stated in his first speech following the 2020 Election declaration by the Electoral Commission.

According to John Mahama, events that unfolded from Monday, December 7 till date only showed that the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa was in cahoots with the President-Elect, Akufo-Addo to steal the election.

“What we witnessed across the country from Monday, December 7, 2020, exposed a deliberate plan to manipulate and predetermine the results of the election in favour of the incumbent candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, who, so happens, controls all of the state resources and oversees the state’s institutions,” he said.

He accused the incumbent President of employing several nefarious tactics to undermine the integrity of the elections including “the use of monetary enticements, and other such schemes on a scale never before seen in this country.”

As well as the ‘unprecedented’ use of the military “as an intimidating measure to reverse election results, and they continue to be used in the same intimidating role to insist on recounts in areas in which the incumbent has lost whilst arm-twisting election officers during these supposed recounts.”

He further stated that the Electoral Commission’s decision to announce the election results in 24 hours after the close of polls was rather suspicious as it provided little space for diligent work to be carried out during the collation of results.

“The Chairperson of the EC, in less than 24 hours after her declaration, has admitted that she has made unacceptable errors, which go to the heart of the entire electoral process and cast deep doubt on the credibility of the announced outcome,” he said.

He added that, “The Electoral Commission of Ghana has never brought its credibility to this historic low at such a crucial moment of election result declaration. In fact, the litany of irregularities and blatant attempts at rigging for a candidate is obvious and most embarrassing.

“Ghana has come too far in our democracy, in our transparency, and in our well-earned international reputation for free and fair and nonviolent elections, to find ourselves here, where we are with this election.”

John Mahama reiterated his party’s decision to reject, resist, and challenge the Electoral Commission’s Presidential result declaration using every tool Ghana’s democracy affords.

“As has been announced by our party, the National Democratic Congress: We are unable to accept the outcome of the election as declared by the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Mrs. Jean Mensah. Those results are flawed and discredited,” he stated.