Ben Ephson has predicted that President Akufo-Addo is likely to lose some 450,000 votes in the December 7 elections if candidates within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) are disqualified.
According to the pollster, chances of the incumbent NPP winning the 2020 polls will be minimal if the major opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) selects a strong running mate.
He indicated that if the NPP before their upcoming parliamentary primaries, disqualifies or disenfranchises any of the contenders, then most of its supporters would be lost.
This comes on the heels of claims by some members of the NPP in the Ashanti Region that their regional executives are bent on making some incumbent MPs go unopposed.
Speaking on Joy News, Mr. Ephson warned “If they persist in trying to disenfranchise or disqualify contenders and there is a level of apathy… the NPP candidate Akufo-Addo could enter the 2020 elections minus 400 to 450,000 votes. So if a candidate gets disqualified, one will not get up and vote…So these are some of the pitfalls that could affect their chances and voting pattern.
But responding to Mr. Ephson’s comment, the National Organizer of the NPP, Sammi Awuku allayed such fears saying mechanisms have been put in place to ensure all aspirants who are disqualified go through the necessary appeal processes right through to the National level.
“It’s a process and once the person picks nomination forms the person subjects himself to the process of scrutiny. The person also subjected himself to the process of vetting and after vetting if the person doesn’t make it, the person has an option to appeal. Subsequently, after the appeal process, it goes to the National Executive Committee.”
Sammi Awuku further debunked assertions that people are disqualified because they are not favorites of the leaders.
He noted “so it’s not a case of if someone doesn’t like you at the parliamentary vetting committee level you don’t get any opportunity to make it to the next step. In any case, we had people who have gone through the vetting, then subsequently someone appealed that nomination, and then they had to be disqualified. We also had instances of people who were vetted out at the parliamentary vetting committee level but then upon appeal, they were able to be reinstated.”
Source: GhanaFeed
