Joshua Alabi, Campaign Manager for John Mahama’s 2024 campaign team, has attributed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) defeat in the 2020 general elections to the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and voter suppression during the registration process.
The NDC suffered a significant loss in the 2020 elections against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), following an earlier defeat in 2016.
However, the party staged a remarkable comeback in the 2024 general elections, reclaiming the presidency and securing a commanding majority in Parliament.
Speaking during an interview on The Point of View with Bernard Avle, broadcast on Channel One TV, Professor Alabi outlined key challenges that contributed to the NDC’s 2020 defeat.
He highlighted voter suppression in the party’s strongholds, particularly the Volta Region, where many NDC supporters were allegedly accused of being foreigners and prevented from registering. This, he said, significantly reduced voter turnout in those areas.
Professor Alabi also noted that the pandemic limited the party’s ability to campaign effectively, reducing opportunities to engage with voters and train polling agents adequately across the country.
Despite these setbacks in 2020, Professor Alabi commended the NDC’s resilience, strategic planning, and grassroots mobilization, which he believes were instrumental in securing their victory in the 2024 elections.
“After the 2020 general elections, I knew that in 2024, we were going to make it. But then of course you must work. In 2020, we started with the registration, I don’t know how you saw it, but in a lot of our strongholds, there were a lot of suppressions in the voter registration, especially in places like the Volta region and the hinterlands.
“The belief at that time was that any Northern name in the hinterland was a foreigner, so there was a lot of suppression. And then we had COVID-19, where we were all made to sleep, but as the government of the day, they were working. And once they were working they were campaigning as well. And you know, they had money from outside, and from what we heard, the money was shared.
“So, they were campaigning, when we were released to campaign somewhere in July 2020, we had a very short time to plan everything. I must admit that a week before the 2020 elections we did not have the full complement of our agents in the Ashanti Region let alone to train them. and also to train ourselves on how we’re going to block any possible stuffing of ballot boxes. We entered the 2020 elections with some handicaps.”
He cited instances where the NDC candidates possessed limited resources in comparison to their NPP opponents, who had significantly more resources available for their campaigns.
“What we heard was that their candidates [NPP] in North East in 2020, each candidate received a minimum of GHC1.5 million, close to GHC2 million to campaign. We gave our candidates GHC15,00 to fight the same battle. That was the money we had earned, we’re locked in rooms and for that matter, our business friends couldn’t come to support us, they were not working during the COVID-19 and the short time was a problem for us. With all that they did, it shows that the party remains a very strong force.”
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