Five reasons why NPP will win the 2020 presidential race

Opinions on Friday, November 6, 2020

Columnist: Michael Addotey

2020-11-06

Ghana has less than a month to go to the polls as all political parties prepare for their campaigns and manifesto.

The Democratic National Congress decided to confront the New Patriotic Party with its running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who with her strong charisma can nevertheless give Mahamudu Bawumia a hot run.

Recently, an informal poll was conducted on social media for netizens to choose their favorite candidate and surprisingly 70% voted for NDC’s John Mahama and Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang.

Well, this is just an informal poll that cannot determine the outcome of the 2020 general election. The results cannot be relied upon to predict the general election either.

This is because past data and trends from such social media polls have never determined the outcome of the general election in Ghana.

In 2012, a similar poll was conducted on social media and 75% voted for NPP.

In the general election, NDC won by a huge and incredible margin, resulting in the 2012 election petition in the supreme court. You know something, NPP took the results to court because they were somehow misled by these social media polls.

In this article, I will describe five (5) indisputable facts and reasons why NPP will win the general election on December 7, 2020. Below are the reasons:

Ghanaians are used to the culture of two-term government

Since the inception of the 1992 constitution, when Ghana became a constitutional state, two terms of government culture have been the direction of the political space. Former Jerry Rawlings became constitutional president from 1992 to 2000, where according to the term limit established in the constitution, he cannot compete again. Former President Kuffour, on the NPP ticket, also won two terms, from 2000 to 2008. The late Atta Mills through the NDC ticket took up the mantle and unfortunately was unable to finish his two terms.

John Mahama, who through the NDC ticket received the only term left by the Ghanaians to satisfy the two-period government culture. With this trend in Ghanaian politics, it obviously proves that, NPP will give an additional term as Ghanaians way of life. So because Ghanaians are used to the two-term government culture, NDC is unlikely to win hence NPP will win on December 7, 2020.

2. Using a formula partner has not been successful in Ghana before

According to research in Ghana’s political space, from the reign of Kwame Nkrumah until now, all presidential candidates who chose women as their running mates lost their elections. Let’s review from 1992 to now. Prof. Naa Afarley Sackeyfio, running mate of Kwabena Darko-NIP (1992). Petra Amegashie, Dan Lartey’s running mate- GCPP (2000). Patricia Ameku, running mate of Emmanuel Ansah Antwi – DFP (2008). Cherita Sarpong, running mate of Dr. Abu Sakara Foster –CPP (2012). The late Eva Lokko, running mate of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom-PPP (2012). Helen Matervi, running mate of Dr. Hassan Ayariga-PNC (2012). Finally, Brigitte Dzogbenuku, running mate of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom- PPP (2016). With this data and historical trend, it was observed, all these presidential candidates who used running partners did not even come close to winning the elections. They lost terribly. Certainly with Ghana’s culture on feminism, NDC cannot win the election, which will give NPP an advantage.

3.The incumbent power of the PNP may affect election results

Ghana’s political space sometimes thrives on the power of incumbency. The incumbent power determines the outcome of the elections. When we speak of incumbent power here, we are speaking of the power of appointing election officials, presidents, and tellers. Even the electoral commissioner was appointed through political affiliations.

With the power of incumbency, it is even difficult to differentiate between party resources and state resources, as we see that the majority of sitting deputies use state logistics during campaigns. Ghana’s election campaign is about who has the most resources and logistics. I see NPP with more resources regarding the elections. More cars, more electoral gifts, more cash and certainly that’s why it will be 4 more for Nana. Also, as the incumbent government will campaign with what it has done, such as a school feeding program, free SHS, restoration of allocations for teacher and nurse training, a factory district one and the rest, the opposition party it has nothing more to discredit what the government has achieved. This will give NPP an advantage in the general election.

4. The COVID 19 pandemic will favor the PNP government

Another reason why NPP will be victorious in the upcoming 2020 elections is the effect of the pandemic. With the high level of fear and stigmatization of COVID-19, where Ghanaians witnessed the government’s efforts, the majority of people who benefited from the efforts will undoubtedly vote for NPP. Also, with the fear of infection and spread, the majority of people are likely not going to vote during elections. And this will give the incumbent government the advantage. With the news that more political leaders of the NPP party were infected with the virus, as condolence and to show condolences, Ghanaians will translate their affections to the lost souls in votes. A similar incident occurred when NDC lost Atta Mills. It was observed that more people voted for the NDC party to show their sympathy, as the winning gap between NDC and NPP was unprecedented. Ghanaians are more sympathetic and the nuclear power plant will emerge victorious due to the pandemic.

5. New voter registration exercise has disenfranchised many NDC members

Finally, the pressure to register many Ghanaians before the 2020 elections will cause many people not to register. According to observations, Ghana card registration is taking place concurrently with voter registration in some areas. These can result in human error and possible excessive or insufficient registrations.

There will be over registration in the NPP strongholds and under registration in the NDC strongholds, which is part of the political game. The name of the game is “disenfranchising your opponents’ members to win.”

This is why we are seeing more confusion in some of the NDC strongholds, especially in the Volta region. Since the attack on the NDC poll workers in some of the registration centers, he can’t even pay attention to his work as a NDC poll worker, because he’s scared. The processes involved in registration and mandatory citizenship testing before one can register is a disenfranchisement tactic. And NPP is very good at playing those tactics, so obviously 4 More to do More. 4 MORE FOR NANA.