EIU report on NDC's 2024 chances not definite – Yaw Boateng Gyan

Yaw Boateng Gyan, a former National Organizer of the NDC, says a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on the chances of the party in the 2021 elections is not definite.

London-based analysts, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), say the National Democratic Congress (NDC) cannot win the 2024 general elections with Mahama as presidential candidate.

This was revealed in the EIU’s five-year forecast for Ghana released on April 13, 2022.

According to the report the NDC can revitalize this prospect of victory if they present a fresh presidential candidate for the 2024 polls.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has led the NDC into two unsuccessful election campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

The NDC is expected to face off with a new candidate by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) its new leader as the current President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo concludes his final term in 2024.

According to the EIU, the NPP has been surrounded with unemployment, an economic downturn, corruption among others, which will fuel citizens’ sentiments against the ruling NPP administration.

“Our baseline forecast is that ongoing public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of improvements in governance—such as infrastructure development, job creation and easing of corruption—will trigger anti-incumbency factors and push the electorate to seek a change.”

“The next parliamentary and presidential elections are due in 2024. Under constitutionally mandated term limits, the incumbent president, Mr Akufo-Addo, cannot run for a third term. The former president, John Mahama, is reportedly considering running again, but we expect the opposition NDC to try to revitalise it.

Speaking to host of Atinka FM’s AM Drive, Yaw Boateng Gyan, said the EIU report does not mean that President Mahama cannot indeed win.

He maintained that the outcomes of general elections are not tied to reports and hence reports like these should be taken with a pinch of salt.

“I have read the reports by EIU and I must say I personally do not rely on reports from pollsters. If you rely too much on these reports, you will be misled. In Ghana it got to a time Ben Epson was a reliable pollster until his predictions begun to derail,” Yaw Boateng Gyan told Kaakyire Ofori Ayim.