Opposition parties reject Ephson’s 2016 polls

Political parties in the country have rejected polls conducted by Managing Editor of The Daily Dispatch, Ben Ephson, which said President John Dramani Mahama will win the December 7 election.

According to Mr Ephson’s polls, Mr Mahama will win with 52.4 per cent of votes. The polls gave Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 45.9 per cent, while it lumped the five other presidential candidates namely Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (National Democratic Party), Edward Mahama (People’s National Convention), and Ivor Greenstreet (Convention People’s Party) with a percentage of 1.7.

Reacting to the polls on Class News, the National Secretary of the PPP, Murtala Mohammed, described Mr Ephson as one whose polls cannot be trusted and called on the electorate to disregard it.

“So far as we are concerned, we don’t think he is a credible pollster, so it’s not something we want to waste our time on. If you look at the voting pattern of Ghana, you will know that what he is predicting doesn’t make sense. Don’t forget that this is the man who predicted a second round victory for Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008, but he lost. …This armchair analyst cannot be taken [seriously].

Even serious pollsters in America got it wrong with Trump, so I don’t think somebody we don’t see as credible can predict any polls in 2016. We all know where he belongs to…” he stated.

The General Secretary of the PNC, Atik Mohammed, who also spoke to Class News, said Mr Ephson’s polls have always been flawed and accused him of being paid to churn out figures in favour of the NDC government.

“It is about time Ghanaians told this man the truth. He is not a pollster, he has no clue what it means to do polling. He just sits at the comfort of his office and, depending on which piper plays the tune, he decides to publish for want of a better expression this bunk. This is not the first time this man has done this and I remember vividly in 2008, he was giving all kinds of prediction based on who went to see him or who decided to play his ball,” he stated.

“These are not pollsters and are these different from what NDC foot soldiers are predicting?” Mr Mohammed quizzed.

The NPP, through its Director of Communications, Nana Akomea, also said it would place much premium on polls done by “credible” institutions such as the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and the like than polls done by individuals like the Ben Ephson.