NDC – 53.0%; NPP – 24%; CPP – 9.0%
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), which lost massive support in the 2004 elections to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is regaining its hold on the Central Region, The Heritage newspaper can reveal after a survey of willing voters was conducted there.
It came up that, if elections were held today, the NDC’s Prof. John Evans Atta Mills would get 52.87%, while the NPP’s Nana Akuffo-Addo would collect 23.56%, with the Convention People’s Party’s Dr. Kwesi Nduom settling for 9.42%.
It came up that, if elections were held today, the NDC’s Prof. John Evans Atta Mills would get 52.87%, while the NPP’s Nana Akuffo-Addo would collect 23.56%, with the Convention People’s Party’s Dr. Kwesi Nduom settling for 9.42%. Dr. Edward Nasigri Mahama of the People’s National Convention would follow with 1.04%. A clear departure from the pattern of polls that The Heritage has conducted in Metropolitan Accra, Northern region and the Makola and Okaishie markets of Accra has been observed in the Central region; whereas the new party scored respectable single digit percentage points in the four areas, the DFP scored 0% here in the Central region. None of the respondents the paper talked to mentioned the party or its presidential candidate, Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi, as their preferred choice.
The survey sampled the opinions of 955 people from all walks of life including drivers, market women, residents, students, farmers and fishermen and commuters, among others. Questions asked them included, “If elections were held today, what political party of presidential candidate would you vote for”, and “do you think the CPP or a new political party should be given the chance to rule the country?” In all, 955 respondents from Abura Dunkwa, Kasoa, Agona Swedru, Cape Coast, Elmina and Mankessim among other communities were interviewed one-on-one, using the random sampling method of research at market places, stores, in houses, vehicles and on roadsides, as well as at pubs and other public places. The research was conducted between Sunday, June 29, and Saturday, July 5, 2008.
Out of the number 505, representing 52.8798%, stated clearly that they would vote for Prof. Mills and the NDC; 225, representing 23.5602%, said they would endorse Nana Akuffo-Addo to continue the good works of the NPP administration; 90 voters, representing 9.4208%, rooted for the comeback of the CPP with Papa Nduom as president, while none of the respondents mentioned the DFP. Sixty-five (65) respondents, representing 6.80628%, could be styled floating voters, as they had not decided which particular presidential candidate or political party to vote for while 60, equating 6.28272% had decided not to vote at all in the elections.
Farmers who rooted for the NDC complained of high cost of agricultural inputs, such as chemicals used in organic farming, among others. Traders, on the other hand, complained about the high cost of their wares that had resulted in high living costs. They indicated to this reporter that, due to the high cost of items, sales had reduced drastically because people were unable to spend above their food needs. Some taxi drivers held the view that the NDC government was better than the NPP owing to the high cost of petroleum prices and wanted to revert to NDC; rather than giving NPP another mandate.
Those who responded in favour of the NPP wanted a continuation of the party in government, under the leadership of Nana Akuffo-Addo.
There cited the National Health Insurance Scheme, School feeding programme, Ghana’s stability and peace, freedom of expression and the many development projects undertaken by NPP under President John Agyekum Kufuor as their reason. According to such respondents, Ghana was moving forward in development and that there was no need to turn back. Those who went for the CPP’s Nduom said they had seen enough of the NDC and NPP and wanted a real change in government. According to this category of respondents, they would vote for the CPP because they had tested both the NDC and NPP but that both parties had failed to improve the lot of Ghanaians. They were emphatic: the CPP must be given the chance to rule Ghana again.
The Central region has become very important to political parties” campaigns in this year’s battle for the people’s mandate, owing to the significant role it played in the 2004 general election that catapulted the NPP to a second-term of office. The NDC, which had nine parliamentary seats from the 2000 elections with the NPP having eight out of 17, retained only two of its seats, while the NPP won 16 seats out of 19, when two more constituencies were created before the 2004 election. And the NPP supported the CPP in KEEA to win that seat. The poll results may in a way confirm the unstable nature of Central region’s voting trends, as no political party had had a steady hold of the region since 1992.
