2020 polls: Old age will disfavor Akufo-Addo – EIU

The Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU) says President Akufo-Addo is likely to face calls to stand down in favour of a fresh face in the 2020 polls.

The EIU predicts, in furtherance of his stay in the Presidency in 2020, President Akufo-Addo’s age will be his major threat.

EIU, which predicted victory for Akufo-Addo in the 2016 polls, insists there could largely be tension in the governing NPP in the build-up to the 2020 polls, triggered by health issues that may come with old age of the President.

“A threat to the prospects of Nana Akufo-Addo, meanwhile, will come from his age. He will be 76 in 2020 and, depending on his health by then, could face calls to stand down in favor of a fresh face.

“However such a process would almost certainly lead to intra party tensions, given the NPP’s history of factionalism, something that would be off-putting to the electorate,” the report compiled between July and August 2017 said.

It said the main opposition NDC will also have a stroke of tensions and confusion, but the EIU indicated “a deciding factor could be how internally unified the main parties remain.”

“The NDC could well suffer from internal ructions over who will lead the party forward given the mounting recrimination over its 2016 defeat”.

The EIU is a credible institution vis a vis predictions on Ghana politics and majority of its forecasts have been spot on.