NPP Prez Race: Opinion polls are fake

.. says Political Scientist Kwesi Jonah.
As the date for the ruling NPP?s December congress draws closer, a lot more opinion polls on the likely candidate to win the crucial elections continue to be churned out, but a Political Scientist and Lecturer, Kwesi Jonah has rubbished the polls.

He told the dailyEXPRESS that the public must disregard the polls been bandied around until they are scientifically proven.

According to Mr. Jonah who is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the polls are just meant to throw dust into the eyes of the public especially when the delegates are still not known. ?Only 250 or so people are going to vote,? he said, adding ?frankly speaking I don?t trust any of the polls on this particular congress.? Mr. Jonah says there?s a lot to be concerned about because the pollsters are not connected in anyway with the exercise in terms of voting rights. Several polls have been conducted with results indicating who will win the December 22nd congress to elect a presidential candidate for the NPP. Nineteen persons are expected to contest the elections for which campaigning have intensified over the last few weeks.

Some of the aspirants, considered as big-shots in the race, have had their political egos either badly bruised or boosted by the opinion polls. The president?s reported favourite, Alan Kyerematen, former foreign minister Nana Addo Akuffo and Vice President Aliu Mahama are some of the aspirants who have been kept in the frontline by the poll organisers.

Some of the candidates have been quick to rubbish the polls while others, who the results have favoured, issue cautious statements of acceptance.

Mike Ampong, an aide to Alan Kyerematen says ?delegates are yet to be selected and therefore aspirants should read into these polls but with considerable caution. They should neither be disheartened nor overly confident. But, they ignore the signs at their own financial peril and to some extent, humiliation.? Others like Dr. Arthur Kennedy, Yaw Osafo Maafo and Felix Owusu Agyepong have out rightly rejected the polls as insignificant. Many others have in off the record conversations accused the poll organisers or collecting money from candidates to place them on top of the table.