NDC more popular in new regions – Afrobarometer report
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is hailed more than the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the six newly-created regions in Ghana, even though the latter executed the plan to carve out the new regions.
This is contained in the latest Afrobarometer report by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) which stated that: “Among declared votes, the NPP and NDC held leads in eight out of the 16 regions, with the NDC generally more popular in the newly created regions”.
Both the NDC and the NPP made promises to create a varied number of new regions but the NPP established the new areas after it won the 2016 elections.
The NDC had planned to create five new regions while the NPP campaigned for six–the Oti, Savannah, North East, Western North, Bono and Ahafo regions.
A December 27, 2019 referendum resulted in a massive endorsement for the creation of the new regions with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo naming their capitals and their administrative boundaries approved.
The Afrobarometer report added that more than four in 10 Ghanaians aren’t taking sides yet in a presidential race, outnumbering respondents of the ruling party as well as its challengers.
When asked in September-October how they would vote if a presidential election were held “tomorrow,” more Ghanaians said they would not vote or didn’t know or wouldn’t say how they would vote than declared for the ruling NPP or the NDC.
Among respondents who declared a preference, the NPP maintained a lead over the NDC, though its lead has shrunk by 15 points compared to survey responses in 2017.
Even though the NPP’s popularity decreased from 49 per cent to 34 per cent as compared to 2017, NDC’s remained unchanged at 22 per cent.
Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi believes the report is positive for the fortunes of the NDC with just a year to the 2020 general and parliamentary polls.
“The analysis and the results that we see rather favours the NDC”, he observed.
He says the Akufo-Addo administration implemented the Free Senior High School, One village-One dam (1V1D), One district- One factory(1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs, the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) yet all the indicators show a decline in the fortunes of the NPP and that “is a problem” for government.
“This tells a story and the story is that the people are telling you that you are losing grip of governance.
“You used to be at a certain pedestal and you are now on a downward trend. It is momentum and the government will not be able to recover from it in less than 12 months,” he predicted on Joy TV’s PM Express.
EIU report
The MP’s analysis, however, contradicts the forecast of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which stated in its latest report that the NPP will rather be retained in power.
“Our forecast that the 2020 polls are the NDC’s to lose remains unchanged,” parts of the report stated.
The EIU, a member of the globally-known The Economist Group noted in it’s September 4, 2019 report that the NPP will get a second consecutive term as it is “seen as a better custodian of the economy than the opposition National Democratic Congress”.
The group was emphatic that “it will be difficult for the NDC under Mr Mahama to portray itself as the better custodian of Ghana’s economy.”