The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has taken a commanding lead in the first round of a New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirants’ poll, currently being run in D. Guide. Polling a whopping 69 percent of total votes cast as at midnight of Friday 14th September, 2007, the Vice President has not only dwarfed his other competitors in the presidential race, but also made nonsense of the analysis that, following the array of contestants, there could be a run-off at the December national congress of the NPP.
The poll, titled: ‘NPP Presidential Aspirants’ Poll: Who Stands Against Mills In December 2008?’, and which is the first computerized poll in the country, is aimed at testing the popularity and general acceptability of the 17 NPP aspirants among the Ghanaian electorate.
Closest to the Vice President is Alan Kyeremanten, otherwise known as Alan ‘C’, former Minister of Trade, who polled 20 percent.
Other aspirants who made some impressive initial marks include Nana Akufo-Addo, former Foreign Affairs Minister, who came third with three percent, and Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko, former Vice President of the Bank of New York, who was fourth with two percent.
Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Frimpong Boateng and Felix Owusu Adjapong polled one percent each, while the rest have not been that impressive in the past week.
Mike Oquaye, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Addo Kufuor, Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Dan Botwe, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Yaw Osafo Maafo and Kwabena Agyapong all polled below one percent.
Even though it is just the first of many weekly polls, the initial picture seems to suggest that Aliu, Alan and Nana Addo are front-runners in the ruling party’s search for a replacement for President John Agyekum Kufuor, whose tenure ends in January, 2009. The organizers were however quick to note that a large chunk of the votes, which could have changed the current table, were wasted because of improper pre-fixing of aspirants’ codes. The problem made it impossible for the computer to recognize thousands of votes.
For instance, many voters, probably out of enthusiasm, wrote the full names of the aspirants of their choice instead of the code names assigned them.
The participants, whose votes were wasted in this case, texted ‘Dan Botwe’, instead of ‘sa dan’, ‘Mike Oquaye’, instead of ‘sa mike’ and ‘Addo Kufuor’, instead of ‘sa addo’.
In the case of Nana Akufo Addo, voters failed to go strictly by the spelling in the competition, ‘sa akufu’ but went on to use their own codes such as ‘sa akufo’, ‘sa nana akufo’ and ‘nana addo’.
Some even added ‘Hon’ to the codes of aspirants who are MPs. All these votes did not register on the computer’s radar.
Many people, for reasons best known to them, wrote Hon. Hackman Owusu Agyemang, which was also rejected by the computer. The NPP is yet to open nominations for its 2008 presidential primaries, but 17 party stalwarts have expressed interest in the flagbearership slot. This has led to the surfacing of several polls and surveys, some of which generated a lot of furore and tension on the political landscape. This latest poll, which is fully-computerized, is programmed to accept the code names as indicated in the adverts.
However, it accepts both lower and uppercase letters, provided the spelling and codes are correct.
Incidentally, the name of Dr. Arthur Kennedy, one of the aspirants, was inadvertently omitted in the first week’s poll, but the organizers say they have corrected the anomaly for subsequent polls.
The next results would be released on Friday, 21st September, 2007. Source:
The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has taken a commanding lead in the first round of a New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirants’ poll, currently being run in D. Guide. Polling a whopping 69 percent of total votes cast as at midnight of Friday 14th September, 2007, the Vice President has not only dwarfed his other competitors in the presidential race, but also made nonsense of the analysis that, following the array of contestants, there could be a run-off at the December national congress of the NPP.
The poll, titled: ‘NPP Presidential Aspirants’ Poll: Who Stands Against Mills In December 2008?’, and which is the first computerized poll in the country, is aimed at testing the popularity and general acceptability of the 17 NPP aspirants among the Ghanaian electorate.
Closest to the Vice President is Alan Kyeremanten, otherwise known as Alan ‘C’, former Minister of Trade, who polled 20 percent.
Other aspirants who made some impressive initial marks include Nana Akufo-Addo, former Foreign Affairs Minister, who came third with three percent, and Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko, former Vice President of the Bank of New York, who was fourth with two percent.
Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Frimpong Boateng and Felix Owusu Adjapong polled one percent each, while the rest have not been that impressive in the past week.
Mike Oquaye, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Addo Kufuor, Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Dan Botwe, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Yaw Osafo Maafo and Kwabena Agyapong all polled below one percent.
Even though it is just the first of many weekly polls, the initial picture seems to suggest that Aliu, Alan and Nana Addo are front-runners in the ruling party’s search for a replacement for President John Agyekum Kufuor, whose tenure ends in January, 2009. The organizers were however quick to note that a large chunk of the votes, which could have changed the current table, were wasted because of improper pre-fixing of aspirants’ codes. The problem made it impossible for the computer to recognize thousands of votes.
For instance, many voters, probably out of enthusiasm, wrote the full names of the aspirants of their choice instead of the code names assigned them.
The participants, whose votes were wasted in this case, texted ‘Dan Botwe’, instead of ‘sa dan’, ‘Mike Oquaye’, instead of ‘sa mike’ and ‘Addo Kufuor’, instead of ‘sa addo’.
In the case of Nana Akufo Addo, voters failed to go strictly by the spelling in the competition, ‘sa akufu’ but went on to use their own codes such as ‘sa akufo’, ‘sa nana akufo’ and ‘nana addo’.
Some even added ‘Hon’ to the codes of aspirants who are MPs. All these votes did not register on the computer’s radar.
Many people, for reasons best known to them, wrote Hon. Hackman Owusu Agyemang, which was also rejected by the computer. The NPP is yet to open nominations for its 2008 presidential primaries, but 17 party stalwarts have expressed interest in the flagbearership slot. This has led to the surfacing of several polls and surveys, some of which generated a lot of furore and tension on the political landscape. This latest poll, which is fully-computerized, is programmed to accept the code names as indicated in the adverts.
However, it accepts both lower and uppercase letters, provided the spelling and codes are correct.
Incidentally, the name of Dr. Arthur Kennedy, one of the aspirants, was inadvertently omitted in the first week’s poll, but the organizers say they have corrected the anomaly for subsequent polls.
The next results would be released on Friday, 21st September, 2007. Source:
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