A recent survey conducted by governance think tank Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) which revealed that seven out of every 10 Ghanaians had said government was steering the country in the wrong direction will not automatically translate into victory for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 7 polls, Mohammed Abass, a political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has said.

On Tuesday August 9, a senior research fellow at CDD-Ghana, Daniel Armah Attoh, addressing journalists in Accra on the survey, said: “Ghanaians place unemployment, electricity, and education on the top policy priority list they want the 2016 polls to address, and yet, a clear majority assesses government’s performance in addressing their policy priorities negatively”.

He added: “…The mood of the electorate going into the 2016 polls is broadly negative. Seven in 10 Ghanaians believe that the country is going in the wrong direction and nearly half blame this completely on mostly the government. Nonetheless, Ghanaians are split in their evaluation of the job performance of the president and Members of Parliament. Nearly half approve the overall job performance of the president and their respective MPs but the rest disapprove.”

But speaking on Accra News on Wednesday August 10, Mr Abass said: “The condition is favourable to the NPP, but it is not automatic that it will translate into votes for them. The electorate will need to be convinced that the NPP can reverse the trend because there may be people who harbour the thought that the NPP has not demonstrated clearly that they can manage the situation and change the lives of the people of this country. And so, a lot of people will need to be convinced.”

“…They [NPP] will need to convince Ghanaians that they can provide the alternative to the NDC by letting Ghanaians know the way and manner they will reverse the trend with credible and practical solutions, not just vain promises.

“If they are able to do this combined with favourable conditions, then that will help them. But if they sit and think that the difficulties Ghanaians are facing will automatically inure to their advantage, it will surprise them because there are a lot of surprises in politics.”