A political analyst has attributed part of the New Patriotic Party’s defeat in the just ended elections to its internal issues including the numerous elections it held prior to the December 07 general elections.
According to Dr. Jonathan Asante Otchere, a political science lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, the NPP held 8 internal contests prior to the general elections which partly contributed to their defeat.
He explains that “every level of elections bring acrimony”, listing the different kinds of issues that came up from the organisation of polling station to branch elections, through to the constituencies and regional exercises, adding the parliamentary and presidential primaries which was held in batches.
“So at the end of the day, what do you think should happen?” he quizzed whilst speaking on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Monday, December 23, 2024.
He also shared that Dr. Bawumia’s numbers from the two presidential primaries held before the general elections showed he was not a likeable candidate by the grassroots.
He explained that his failure to garner 70% of the party’s base in both the super delegates and delegates conferences held showed he didn’t command enough support from the party’s base.
Dr. Asante Otchere also added that Ghanaians did not trust Bawumia thinking he lacked the character of the kind of leader they needed as the Afrobarometer report indicated.
“Dr. Bawumia himself would have to turn around and look into the bill and tell himself that people did not trust me and my character and that is what the Afrobarometer report came out with. Ghanaians said they need someone they can trust and with character. Did he have that? Based on his past record, I don’t think so.
“You go to an election with a presidential candidate that did not get a 70% mark both in the primaries and the presidential [primary] itself which led to him being chosen as the leader of the party. So from the word go, he lost the election. So he was not of the grass root,” he asserted.
Dr. Asante Otchere’s comments follow the NPP’s announcement that it is going to set up a committee to investigate the factors that led to the party’s defeat in the just ended elections, handing the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) a two-thirds majority in parliament and a huge gap in the presidential race.
National Chairman of the party, Stephen Ayesu Ntim, revealed this in a press briefing on Monday, December 23, 2024.
He said the proposed Election Review Committee will engage party stakeholders and the general public to fish out the factors that contributed to the defeat. This, Mr. Ntim noted, will inform the party’s reforms to strengthen it for the future.
“The party will in January 2025 set up an effective and objective Election Review Committee to undertake a postmortem into the outcome of the election. The committee will engage all party stakeholders and the general public on the factors and circumstances leading to our defeat,” he stated.
The party Chairman added that one critical area the committee will examine would be whether to have a constitutional amendment to restructure the party’s internal decision-making, including the mode of electing presidential and parliamentary candidates, as well as party executives.
