2016 Election Outlook IT’S ONE TOUCH FOR JOHN MAHAMA -BNI report Indicates

Barring any unforeseen happening ahead of the November elections, President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress will once again secure a resounding first-round victory in the upcoming polls, a report by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has forecasted.

The report by the nation’s spy agency, which shows the ruling party struggling to explain issues relating to unemployment, challenges at the power sector, allegations of corruption; and perceived display of arrogance by some government appointees, indicated that President John Mahama will nonetheless, grab his second term bid with ease.

Though the report is said to be preliminary and has not been made public, a copy gleaned by The aL-hAJJ indicate, among other factors, to contribute to the President’s first run victory include, his persona and youthfulness, impressive achievements in the area of infrastructural development, relative stable economy and most importantly advantage of incumbency.

http://ghanapoliticsonline.com/
The likelihood of attracting ‘compassion’ votes as a result of the President’s modest and humane personality traits was also mentioned as adding to his advantage over his foremost competitor, Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party.

The NPP flag bearer, the findings reveal, will have a herculean task convincing Ghanaians, many of who doubt his commitment to peace and stability of the nation, and ability to unite the country. It further observed that, the New Patriotic Party flag bearer’s aggressive posturing, age and ‘fitness’ is making many people nervous.http://ghanapoliticsonline.com/

Even though the BNI research findings are yet to be finalized, the preliminary report which was not based on percentage of votes for each of the candidates nevertheless projected President Mahama to win in the first round.

The report further pointed to the apparent disagreements in the New Patriotic Party and Nana Akufo-Addo’s complicity in the party’s internal bickering as among factors likely to affect the NPP presidential candidate’s votes in the impending elections, particularly, in their strongholds.

It would be recalled that the BNI ahead of the 2012 presidential elections similarly predicted a first round victory for President John Mahama.

The latest report by the spy agency thus, corroborates results of three independent polls conducted by pollsters hired by the opposition NPP and the office of Nana Akufo-Addo. The surveys, this paper reported early this year all pointed to a first round victory for President Mahama and the governing party.

Indeed, the NPP’s own poll results disputed separate research findings by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) conducted in November 2015 and March this year which all forecasted a win for Nana Akufo-Addo but, warned that the biggest opposition party needs to work hard to attract votes in Central Region whilst maintaining internal unity.

Parts of the EIU’s March 2016 report read “there is little time for Mr Mahama and the NDC to turn the economy around before the November 2016 Presidential and Legislative elections. The Economic Intelligence Unit therefore expects Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP to be victorious”

While the EIU report expects the results to be close and warned that the “outcome is not a foregone conclusion”, it revealed that the NPP needs to maintain internal unity and reach out beyond its strongholds.

Conversely, the report ironically revealed that Ghana’s economy under the watch of the Mahama government is on the verge of witnessing an exponential growth between 2017 and 2019.