Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), and a key member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere-Darko, has described the party’s performance in the 2024 general election as “quite shocking,” attributing the outcome to a broader global political trend.
According to him, the NPP’s defeat should be understood within the context of a shifting global political mood rather than viewed solely through a domestic lens.
In the 2024 polls, the NPP, led by then Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, secured 41.06 per cent of the total valid votes, while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, won the election with 57.95 per cent, returning the NDC to power.
Reflecting on the outcome during an appearance on The Upside Down Show on Channel One TV on Sunday, February 1, Gabby Otchere-Darko said similar unexpected electoral outcomes had been recorded across several democracies in recent years.
“You know what I’ve noticed over the last few years? There have been some shocking results across the world,” he said.
He cited developments in major democracies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, to support his argument.
In the USA, I think Trump actually got fewer votes than he did in 2020, but the margin of victory was wider. In the UK, the Labour Party didn’t really do well in terms of the popular vote, but the seats they got were historic,” he noted.
Gabby Otchere-Darko also pointed to political shifts on the African continent, particularly in Southern Africa.
“In South Africa, we saw what happened to the ANC for the first time – they lost their majority. We saw it across, whether it was in Botswana, across the world,” he said.
Describing the trend, he invoked a German expression to explain the moment saying “I think it was really, as the Germans would call it, the zeitgeist – the time and the spirit of the moment,” he said
He added that when Ghana’s election results are viewed against this backdrop, the outcome becomes more understandable, even though it came as a surprise to many within the party.
“So I think if you look at it from that perspective and you see what happened elsewhere, then you can understand it. But of course, the results were quite shocking,” he stated.
