Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
In a candid and introspective address to a team of party communicators at his residence in Accra, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential candidate, shared his thoughts on the party’s stunning defeat in the 2024 general elections.
“It was a big disappointment, there’s no doubt about it,” Dr. Bawumia said, reflecting on the election results. “Because all the work we had done was pointing to the fact that we would win this election. I mean, there was clear evidence on the ground as we went to all the 276 constituencies. It was clear that we’re going to do well, but on the day of the election, something was amiss.”
Dr. Bawumia noted that voter turnout was alarmingly low, with many constituencies reporting a similar trend.
“Turnout was so low, and everybody was wondering what was happening. Where are people? It turned out that 2.1 million of us decided to stay away, you know, that was the issue,” he said.
The Vice President emphasized that the party’s supporters had seemingly sent a uniform message across constituencies.
“It’s almost as if they had a meeting and decided on the message, you know, the same message. No matter which constituency you went to, they will tell you they were not voting.”
Dr. Bawumia acknowledged that the party’s communication team had done an excellent job, despite being at a disadvantage due to the opposition’s control of key media houses.
“We dominated the NDC in social media, by far. Very, very clearly, we were working against their ownership of all support from key media houses, isn’t it? You know, switch, put that as a disadvantage in many ways in terms of the communication field because we had a lot of these key media houses who were not on our side.”
However, Dr. Bawumia stressed that the party’s focus now shifts to understanding why their supporters did not vote.
“So at least we know where the problem is. I mean, to solve a problem, you have to know what it is. So our people didn’t vote. The question now is why they didn’t vote. That is the question, and that is the research question we are going to answer now.”
To address this question, the NPP plans to conduct research, speaking to individual supporters and polling stations to determine the reasons behind the low turnout.
“Thankfully, it’s not guesswork. We know all the individuals who did not vote in every polling station. So it’s not guesswork”.
He added “So the research is going to speak to them individual by individual, polling station by polling station, to get a sense of why they did not vote.”
Dr. Bawumia emphasized that this research is crucial in informing the party’s future strategy.
“That can only be the basis on which we can go forward. Otherwise, it will be guesswork. I must say, like I said, we worked very hard in the campaign. I must tell you that I’m very proud of the communication team. Very, very, very, very proud. We did very well. You did an excellent job.”
As the NPP navigates its new role in opposition, Dr. Bawumia’s candid assessment and the party’s commitment to understanding their supporters’ concerns offer a glimmer of hope for a stronger return in future elections.
-BY Daniel Bampoe