By Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
The Executive Director of Global Info Analytics, a Market Research Company based in Ghana, Mussa Dankwah, has issued a word of advice to political parties in Ghana, who yearn to capture seats in swing constituencies during the general election and by-election periods to refrain from campaigning from their head offices and do a local intensified campaigns.
“… especially to the NPP, you shouldn’t run campaigns from the head office and also take opinion polls seriously”, he said.
He made these comments and contributions during a virtual interview with Kafui Dey on the June 29, 2023 edition of GTV’s Breakfast Show.
Mr. Dankwah’s advice comes after the just-ended by-election that took place in the Assin-North Constituency in the Central Region of Ghana which saw the National Democratic Congress’s James Gyakye Quayson emerge victorious raking over 56% of the total votes cast. He said that voters within swing areas are very discerning, especially during by-election moments, and that they weigh in on the credibility of the candidate and the messages that are communicated to them.
“Voters in the swing areas are very discerning. It doesn’t matter what you throw at them, they will read in between the lines to see whether you are honest and sincere”, he added.
According to Mr. Dankwah, as part of his company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, they embarked on a poll to collate the voters’ views within the Assin-North Constituency to know who the people were ready to make their lawmaker. The Poll which began on June 6, 2023, collated over 10,000 responses with questions ranging from who the people wanted to represent them in Parliament and also on the performance of the President and his government.
He indicated that, at the early stages when the Candidate for the governing New Patriotic Party, Charles Opoku was leading the campaign with his constituency executives, the polls were to his favor but until the national executives stepped in from the Country’s capital, the NDC candidate overtook charge of the polls.
Mr. Dankwah mentioned that, the polls ended with projections that, the NDC’s James Gyakye Quayson was going to emerge winner because there were some undecided voters who were waiting on the final day and those sets geared the wheels behind him leaving Charles Opoku in the losing camp. He also added that the NPP did not pay attention to their projections but the NDC did and that resulted in their resounding victory.