Key media houses were not on our side, over 2.1 million people did not vote – Bawumia laments disappointing defeat

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate for the just-ended 2024 presidential elections, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that the party aims to unravel the reasons behind the low election turnout.

According to him, the party's defeat can be traced to low turnout and other factors, including key media houses not aligning with the party.

He asserted that over 2.1 million supporters of the party refused to vote.

Speaking to party communicators during a courtesy call on him, he assured them that the challenge has been identified and the leadership aims to address the issue in the forthcoming elections.

"It was a big disappointment; there was no doubt about it when the results came because all the work we had done pointed to the fact that we were winning this election. I mean, there was clear evidence on the ground as to all the 270 constituencies.

"It was clear that we were going to do well, but on the day of the election, something was amiss. The turnout was so low. Everybody was wondering what was happening, why, and where are our people. And that was from Axim all the way to Zebilla, and everybody was wondering, where are our people? What was going on?" he questioned.

Bawumia, who doubles as the Vice President of the country, continued, "It turned out that everybody decided to stay, that they wouldn't vote. And it was almost as if they had a meeting and decided on the message. The same message, no matter which constituency you went to, they would tell you they are not voting.

"So, at least you know where the problem is. And to solve the problem, you have to know what it is, so our people didn't vote. That was the problem."

He added, "The question now is why they didn't vote, and that is a research question we are going to answer now. I must say we worked very hard, and I am very proud of the communication team. We were working against their ownership of, or support from, key media houses. Isn't it so? Put that as a disadvantage in many ways in terms of communication. We had a lot of these key media houses who were not on our side."

The Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa, on Monday, December 9, declared John Mahama the winner in the 2024 presidential elections with a total of 6,328,397 votes.

Dr. Bawumia received 4,657,304 votes.

Mahama's party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), achieved historic success by gaining a majority in Parliament.

Mahama will assume office on January 7, 2025.

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia expressed his disappointment over the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) defeat while speaking with the party's communications team, who paid him a courtesy call. He attributed the loss to the low turnout of 2.1 million supporters, despite the party's… pic.twitter.com/uO5KDeESXb

— 𝐀𝐒𝐊 (@askghmedia) December 18, 2024