Difficult decisions affected the PNP in the 2020 elections – Oppong Nkrumah | Politics

The government says its determination to crack down on illegal small-scale mining and carry out a financial cleansing exercise invariably affected the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) voting margin in the recently completed presidential and parliamentary elections.

In response to a question on whether the government was surprised by the narrow margin between President Akufo-Addo and former President Mahama at a press conference in Accra, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said that the government’s decision to stop and properly regulate illegal small-scale mining and In fact, cleaning up the banking sector affected the PNP in surveys this year.

He pointed out that even before going to the December 7 elections, coalitions and people negatively affected by the “Galamsey” ban and financial cleansing threatened to vote against the PNP.

“True to their threats, they actually voted against the PNP, but everything is fine because the government made that decision in the best interest of the Republic,” said the minister.

Oppong Nkrumah noted that those tough decisions affected NPP votes in the Prestea Huni Valley constituency, where the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng Gyasi lost her seat to the NDC parliamentary candidate and other constituencies in the mining areas.

“We consider it a good result for the government because the net result has been good for the state,” Oppong Nkrumah stressed.

He said that the difference of just over 500,000 votes between President Akufo-Addo and the former Mahama was a true reflection of the people’s feelings.

He was convinced that the elections were free, fair and transparent, and all national and international electoral observer missions endorsed the transparency of the country’s electoral process.

On a narrow margin of parliamentary seats between the PNP and the NDC in Parliament, Oppong Nkrumah said it was good for the country’s democracy, as both political parties needed to build consensus on issues in the House.

He said that over the years, members of Parliament from the NDC and the NPP had agreed to almost 90 percent of the issues in Parliament and believed they should continue to find common ground on issues in the best interest of the state.

“The president was clear in his acceptance speech yesterday that we must commit ourselves to the issues and not as usual and we are eager to achieve things in the best interest of the state,” added the minister.

In response to the NDC’s protest demanding that the Election Commission re-declare the presidential results, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said that there are procedures to seek redress in electoral challenges and therefore urged any aggrieved party to use the channel. appropriate.

“I think that in 21 days if you have problems with the result of the ballot box, you have to gather your evidence and go to court.

For example, the PNP had a problem with the outcome of the Savulugu constituency parliamentary elections, but we agreed to sign the parliamentary declaration form and we have expressed our intentions to challenge the matter in court, “he said.