The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will choose a flag bearer and parliamentary candidates for the 2024 general election today, following many days of uncertainty and stressful situations.
This comes after one of the three flag-bearer candidates, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, withdrew his injunction lawsuit.
The presidential primary is now a two-man race between former President John Dramani Mahama and former Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, Kojo Bonsu, as a result of Dr. Duffuor's withdrawal of both the case and his candidacy.
In a news conference held last evening, the former minister of finance explained that his decision not to run for office was motivated by his complaints about the procedures leading up to the party's impending primaries, including the way voters are recorded.
He said that several anomalies had tarnished the process and that the party leadership had failed to address them.
As a result, he said that he would no longer run for NDC flagbearer. He would, though, continue to stay in contact with the grassroots.
As of right now, the party has started distributing the ballots to the different areas and seats without our help. I would like to reaffirm my dedication to the party and grassroots efforts, but it is clear to all of us that I am concerned that the party is not yet prepared to hold free and fair elections.
Participating in such an occasion would be equivalent to drinking from a calabash that was poisoned.
I have been forced to withdraw after talking with my supporters across the country because I am unable to run in an election that is obviously tainted by anomalies, despite my best efforts to call attention to them, Dr. Duffour stated.
court case
This happened shortly after Dr. Duffour abandoned the lawsuit he had brought against the NDC due to what he said were errors in the party's voter list that would be utilized in the election.
He took the party to court last Monday, pleading that the election should not take place until a complete voter register was sent to his campaign and the two other candidates for president at least five weeks before the poll.
According to the writ, a sizable portion of eligible voters were missing their pictures from the voter register, making it difficult to carry out any meaningful verification on the individuals in question.
Additionally, he claimed that there were 220 instead of 228 constituencies on the hard drive that was delivered to his representatives.
The long list of accusations included the creation of an exceptional list of 74,799 people to participate in the election while 3,910 eligible voters in the 220 constituencies were disenfranchised, as well as the fact that there were inaccuracies that made the photo album unviable for a free, fair, and credible election.
Opoku Amponsah, his attorney, said that his client had given him orders to end the case when the court met yesterday. He informed the court, "The conversations came up this morning, for which reason I could file the relevant paperwork.
Mariam Afful, the judge, later declared the application to be withdrawn and dismissed it.
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