2020 elections: Nduom’s absence won’t make a difference – Ben Ephson

Pollster, Ben Ephson, has said the decision by the founder of the Progressive People's Party, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, to stay out of this year’s election will not affect the dynamics of the presidential polls.

According to Mr Ephson, Dr Nduom has hardly garnered enough votes in all his four presidential bids to influence the December 2020 polls in any significant way.

“In the last election, he got less than 1% of the total votes. He got 0.99%, so I don’t think it will make any difference,” he told GhanaWeb on Monday, August 3, 2020.

State-owned newspaper, Daily Graphic, reported on Monday that Dr Nduom has said he will not run for president in this year’s general elections.

This comes hardly as a surprise because a few weeks ago the party announced that it is ready for eligible persons to demonstrate an interest in becoming the presidential candidate for the 2020 general election, adding that it did not expect Dr Nduom to put in a bid.

Also, Dr Nduom’s financial institutions were hit hard by the banking sector clean- up and his fund management company, Blackshield Capital Management (formerly Gold Coast Fund Management), is indebted to a significant number of investors.

Ben Ephson sees Dr Nduom’s decision not to contest the elections as a reasonable one because his name on a PPP ballot could invite attacks from people his company is indebted to and critics.

“I am sure by 2024 Dr Nduom would have re-branded himself and he would have gotten on his feet,” Mr Ephson predicted.

Ben Ephson tips Brigitte Dzogbenuku, who was the Dr Nduom’s running mate in the 2016 elections to run for the high office of the Presidency on the ticket of the PPP in the December 7, 2020 polls.

The renowned Ghanaian pollster has also urged the small political parties to put their house in order because from 2024 the voting pattern in Ghana was going to be dominated by the youth, who are likely to vote people out easily after four years.