How Nana Addo won the 2016 elections

For many New Patriotic Party supporters this victory has been a long time coming – the day Nana Akufo Addo will be president of Ghana. In 2008 the party came so close but lost in a run off to the NDC and that was the beginning of the road to 8 years in opposition.

How did this happen is probably the big question some people are asking particularly NDC supporters. Let’s look at these reasons in Pulse.com.gh estimation accounted for this win for the NPP.

General feel for change
What is happening now per the provisional results is a clear and loud scream by Ghanaians that they are tired of the NDC government. Mind you the NPP campaigned on the message of change in 2012 but Ghanaians did not adhere to that call.

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The change signal by the NPP

After eight years in power, even though the NDC tried very hard to make it seem it’s only been 4 years of President Mahama, Ghanaians apart from the complaints of unemployment and economic hardship could not turn a blind eye to the almost 4 year rule of late President Evans Atta Mills. So after 8 years the NDC has been voted out just as NPP was in 2008 after 8 years in power. This was Nana Addo’s thier attempt at the presidency and some voters thought he should be given the chance.

Highlighting of Corruption
The role corruption has played in this election cannot be underestimated. In 2012 the NPP was blamed by its supporters for not hammering on the various corruption scandal enough for it to stick. So they did not spare the ruling party this year. From the Ford Escape saga in which a 4×4 vehicle was given to president Mahama as a gift after awarding a contract to a Burkinabe, to the infamous Woyome judgement debt scandal which has been rekindled a few weeks to elections.
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Corruption in Ghana

There is also the bus branding saga and a host of others. President Mahama failed clearly failed to decisively and independently investigate these scandals and appropriate punishment given. His response to these corruption scandals have been that the culprits are being prosecuted. The NPP on every platform made corruption a key ingredient. This was evident in Samira Bawumia’s popular chants “We are saying to the NDC that we see you alright…you want us to see you, we see you but we see incompetence, we see you but we see corruption, we see you but we see bad management”
The Bawumia factor

The NPP knows that their party is very attractive to the elite, educated or intellectuals. So they did not lose sight of the huge and positive effect the renowned economist and former deputy governor of the bank of Ghana Dr. Mahamoudu Bawumia could add to the campaign and he (Bawumia) delivered.
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He became the definition of economics in Ghana. He challenged the ruling NDC on their economic policies which will eventually hurt the country. The NPP were so strategic that Bawumia’s take on the economy became the only truth. He is also credited with the NPP’s 10 seats in the norther region in 2012.
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He is a true man from the north who was energetic enough to campaign and to explain issues to his fellow tribes men in their language. In the 2016 election the NPP has added about about four seat to the 10 they already have in the North. The party for the first time got five seats in the Upper West region. This can only be as a result of the Bawumia factor .
Intense Grassroot Campaign
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NPP women campaign in the Eastern region

Contrary to popular the notion that the NDC is good at campaigning in rural areas while the NPP is only loud in urban areas and social media the NPP did something different. They took their change message to villages and hinterlands.
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NPP campaigns in rural areas

The message for the folks in villages was not about corruption and dumsor, it was about the collapse of the cocoa mass spraying exercise, prices of cocoa, withdrawal of both teachers and nurses allowance, unemployment, high school fees.
Targeted Millennials through Social Media
By now we know we are all convinced about the role Social Media has played in this elections. There are so many millennials on social media who needed to be reached by the political parties and so the NPP took advantage of it. Unlike the NDC which had so many pages set up to support John Mahama the NPP’s own was centralised and had focused.

Nana Akufo Addo’s Facebook following
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John Mahama’s Facebook following

Nana Akufo Addo’s facebook page following had a very rapid increase surpassing John Mahama’s. The NPP used fb live broadcast a lot since facebook added that feature. Hash tag campaigns were all over the place. #voteforchange, #doitforkb, #hopechallenge are a few of the hash tag campaigns and these were executed by a dedicated social media team.
The NPP had a real message

The NPP message on solving unemployment with the “One District One factory ” message stuck with people. The “One Million dollar fund to develop react constituency too was accepted. The corruption message against the NDC also worked considering Nana Addo’s integrity as a corrupt-free man.