Despite the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) voting against the proposed change in date for this year’s elections, the governing National Democratic Congress will still win the polls which will be held on the usual 7 December date, President John Mahama has said.

Speaking to party supporters in the Western Region, where he is currently campaigning, Mr Mahama said the NDC will clinch victory whether the elections had been held earlier on 7 November as proposed by the Electoral Commission or later on 7 December.

Parliament rejected the proposed date change a couple of months ago. MPs who voted in favour of the date change did not reach the two-thirds majority needed for the bill to have sailed through.

Mr Mahama is not the first to have said the NDC will win the general elections irrespective of which date the polls are run. During the party’s campaign launch in Cape Coast on Sunday, 14 August, General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said were the polls to be held in November rather than the usual December 7 date, the NDC would still have won because “we are November-December champions.”

The NDC is going into the polls with President Mahama as its flag bearer. The party is aiming to win a second term in office with Mr Mahama as leader. Mr Mahama’s main opponent in the race is Nana Akufo-Addo, flag bearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party.