NDC one million votes agenda has collapsed – NPP

The Ashanti Regional Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Samuel Pyne, says the outcome of the just-ended presidential and parliamentary primaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a clear indication that the party’s so-called popularity of its candidate, President John Dramani Mahama, has been hugely exaggerated.

The NPP regional scribe also contends that the outcome of the polls, particularly in the Ashanti Region, has also made nonsense of the party’s much-touted agenda of winning one million votes in the region.

According to Sam Pyne, though the opposition party had never been intimidated by the ruling party’s so-called agenda, events have now become clear to Ghanaians that either the ruling party was engaging in deliberate empty political gimmickry, or overestimated its strength.

Analysing the outcome of the primaries in an interview with The Chronicle, the NPP secretary, who said his party closely monitored the exercise, observed that the seemingly apathetic attitude of the supporters of the party towards the elections, as well as the significant number of ‘No Votes’ against the President, gives the NPP much joy and excitement.

“We cannot help, but feel excited at the turn of events; now it is clear that President Mahama is suffering [a] popularity crisis even within his own party. This is a true reflection of what is likely to happen in 2016,” he noted.

He observed that the NDC and its communication team can do everything to discredit the ‘No Votes’ and assign flimsy reasons, including claims that its register was infiltrated by the NPP, but nothing will change the minds of Ghanaians that President has performed poorly and deserves to be changed.

Sam Pyne was of the view that the fact the elections recorded a low turnout from even amongst their own supporters, indicate that the people are fed up with the President Mahama administration, and did not see the need to participate in the polls, despite registering.

He said the outcome would have been exceedingly bad for the President if any credible candidate had contested him.

“Is it not amazing that the NDC claimed they registered more than 2.3 million card bearing members to take part in the primaries, but President Mahama ended up getting a little over one million; there are two things involved, either the ruling party lied to Ghanaians, or they have lost touch with the grassroots base of the party,” he noted.

The NPP regional scribe also cautioned the ruling party about anything to replicate the violence incidents in the 2016 elections, stressing that the NPP would not countenance any move to adopt intimidating tactics in the general elections which would be met with severe resistance.

“The widespread violence that characterised the NDC primaries should give every well-meaning Ghanaian cause to worry; even amongst themselves look at the kind of wickedness and mayhem they are inflicting on themselves, it must inform Ghanaians about what they can do in 2016,” he observed.

Sam Pyne cited instances in Ejura, Suame, Ningo Prampram and other parts of the country where several violent acts were reported as a result of the primaries. He mentioned, for example, the Suame Constituency, where macho men were deployed by the two candidates to cause confusion at polling centres, as well as the Ejura Constituency, which saw loyalists of the three candidates engaged in smashing of ballots boxes and beating of security personnel.

Sam Pyne also observed that the several complaints of discrepancies in the voters’ register lend credence to the call by the NPP for a new national voters’ register, expressing optimism that the ruling party would change its stance on the issue moving forward, in order to ensure that a credible register was secured for the 2016 elections.