EIU Report On The November Election In Ghana Will Help The NDC Win The Election Massively

Front Page Comment of the DAILY POST

Norman Solomon, an American journalist, media critic, antiwar activist and former U.S. congressional candidate asserts that “everyone loves opinion polls,
especially during election years. Newspapers, magazines and television constantly run them, using the results to point out what the electorate are thinking and how they are going to vote.” But how accurate are such polls?

“Not very”, says Norman Solomon. “The numbers can be deceiving, and results can be skewed by the simple wording of a question. The more we trust polls, the more likely they are to mislead us” he said.

The thoughts shared here by Norman Solomon are thought-provoking and must be etched on the minds of NDC supporters and members in particular as we head to the polls in November this year. This is much so because of the kinds of Opinion Polls that are likely to be churned out by various so-called neutral bodies in the run-up to the D-day.

Indeed, 2011, Ghana’s own pollster, Ben Ephson, confirmed a wikileaks cable that Akufo-Addo’s nephew, Gabby Otchere- Darko, came to offer him a bribe of $20,000 so he would publish opinion polls in favour of Akufo-Addo ahead of the 2008 elections . Further, there have been Opinion Polls that have turned up to be so wrong they could never have been the result of a survey conducted as is often the claim. One of such polls in the run up to the 2006 NDC congress at Legon claimed it was going to be a split decision between Prof. J E A Mills and Ekwow Spio Garbrah. That turned out to be false as Mills coasted home to victory with over 80% of the votes cast. Be that as it may, opinion polls that claim that the NDC will lose this November’s election must be taken seriously. One of such reports by the London-based Economic and Intelligence Unit (EIU) is out and claims the NPP will win the November elections.

Of course one does not need to be a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that the NDC will win the November elections. However, complacency can also cost the party the election. It is in this regard that the party’s teeming supporters must welcome the report of the EIU and take it as a wake up call. It must jolt the party’s leaders and foot-soldiers out of any complacency that may be afflicting them. With the EIU report, NDC supporters and members ought to understand that the November election is not going to be a walk over. They need to work harder than they are doing now. They need to let the hunger and passion for power which they exuded in the run-up to the 2008 election return. With that, an already assured win in November will be massive. Let the rank and file of the NDC therefore welcome the EIU’s report and worked hard to prove it wrong!