The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has revealed he was not surprised his party the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost the 2016 elections.

The veteran lawmaker who has served as both Minority and Majority Leader in Parliament under different administrations said he “saw the NDC 2016 election defeat” coming because he had warned the party about it.

President Akufo-Addo garnered 5, 716, 609 votes, representing 53.84 percent to snatch the presidency from former President John Mahama who secured 4,713,277 votes, representing 44.40 percent. The NDC also lost more than 40 parliamentary seats to the NPP, which gave the latter majority in Parliament. Akufo-Addo won the election after a third term bid.

Speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray Wednesday, the MP for Nadowli-Kaleo constituency in the Upper West region believes the opposition NDC will surely “bounce back” as the defeat is serving as a learning curve for the party.

According to him, the “defeat was bound to happen” and advised all party members to take the loss in good stride.

As one of the longest-serving MPs in Ghana’s Parliament, he noted it will be difficult to blame former President John Mahama entirely for the party’s defeat, saying “Mahama did his best… The former president did his best.”

Bagbin, who is tipped as one of the front-runners for the NDC 2020 flagbearer race, touted Mahama as a leader who scored high in governance.
Meanwhile, the National Organiser of the NDC, Kofi Adams, has stated that the party did not envisage losing the 2016 election.

“No. no. We thought that we have done so well. We thought that the campaign went very well. We thought that we have reached out to many persons. As a government, the government was on course and very truthful to the people,” he told Morning Starr host Francis Abban this week.