Elections
play a crucial role in a very democratic society as they provide a means of
electing their preferred candidates or leaders. It serves as a mechanism for
expressing the collective will of the people and ensuring a peaceful transfer
of power. This study therefore seeks to determine the difference between the
proportion of votes garnered by the two main political parties during 2016 and
2020 elections. The study employed descriptive research design with two
population proportion tests and found that Ghanaian voters in 2020 shifted
towards the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at 95% confidence level.
Moreover, in 2016, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeated the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) with close to a million votes. Thus, in 2020
election, the results clearly indicate a shrank in the margin of votes between
the two main political parties in Ghana. The results further revealed that
during the 2016 and 2020 elections, Ghanaians changed their pattern of voting
towards these two political parties. Additionally, the New Patriotic Party lost
more votes as compared to what they garnered in the year 2016 at 95% and 99.9%
confidence level. Also, the gap of votes between the two main political parties
shrank at 95% and 99.9% confidence level. Based on the findings of the study,
it was further concluded that political parties should not take the voters for
granted and it should be known to political leaders that the voters have now
changed their mindset and have shifted from the previously tribalistic line of
voting. Therefore, for a political party to remain in power, it must promote
good public relations with the masses and good campaign messages or policies
that are beneficial to the electorates.
References
[1]
Van Reybrouck, D. (2018) Against Elections. Seven Stories Press, New York.
[2]
Fomunyoh, C. (2020) Facing Democratic Backsliding in Africa and Reversing the Trend. National Democratic Institute, Washington DC, 30.
[3]
Briggs, P. and Connolly, S. (2016) Ghana. Bradt Travel Guides.
[4]
Nathan, N.L. (2019) Electoral Politics and Africa’s Urban Transition: Class and Ethnicity in Ghana. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108594820
[5]
Chambiwa, E., Majoni, J. and Mapuranga, L.L. (2022) The African Union and Its Role in Ensuring African Economic and Environmental Sovereignty. In: Nhemachena, A., et al., Eds., Sovereignty Becoming Pulvereignty: Unpacking the Dark Side of Slave 4.0 within Industry 4.0 in 21st Century Africa, Langaa RPCIG, Bamenda, 299-312. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2z6qdpk.16
[6]
Schoeberlein, J. (2020) National Strategies for Advancing Good Governance in Africa. Transparency International.
[7]
Ijon, F.B. (2020) Election Security and Violence in Ghana: The Case of Ayawaso West Wougon and Talensi By-Elections. Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences, 10, 32-46. https://doi.org/10.9734/arjass/2020/v10i130139
Electoral Commission of Ghana (2020) 2020 Precedential Election Results. Electoral Commission of Ghana, Accra.
[10]
Abou-Chadi, T. and Stoetzer, L.F. (2020) How Parties React to Voter Transitions. American Political Science Review, 114, 940-945.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000155
[11]
Frimpong, A.N.K., Li, P., Nyame, G. and Hossin, M.A. (2020) The Impact of Social Media Political Activists on Voting Patterns. Political Behavior, 44, 599-652.
[12]
Israel, A.S. and Micah, D.J. (2020) Vote-Buying Enterprise and Voting Behaviour among Electorate: Evidence from Southern Nigeria. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 33, 15-24. https://doi.org/10.9734/jesbs/2020/v33i1030258
[13]
Russmann, U. (2020) Voter Targeting Online in Comparative Perspectives: Political Party Websites in the 2008/2009 and 2013 Austrian and German Election Campaigns. Journal of Political Marketing, 19, 177-200.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2016.1179241
[14]
Sefa-Nyarko, C. (2020) Ethnicity in Electoral Politics in Ghana: Colonial Legacies and the Constitution as Determinants. Critical Sociology, 47, 299-315.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920520943263
[15]
Coticchia, F. and Vignoli, V. (2020) Italian Political Parties and Military Operations: An Empirical Analysis on Voting Patterns. Government and Opposition, 55, 456-473. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2018.35
[16]
Agomor, K.S., Adams, S. and Asante, W. (2020) Anatomy of Ghana’s Parliamentary Elections and Democratic Consolidation. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 38, 399-414.
