By Edward Acquah
Accra, June 11, GNA – The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) says a “significant” number of undecided voters are in a “difficult situation” deciding on participating in the upcoming General Election.
The Institute said internal works conducted within the regions indicate that “a lot” of voters “are not sure” whether to participate in the December 7 polls as they had lost trust in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) due to past experiences.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Professor Kwesi Jonah, Senior Research Fellow, IDEG, said the development was dangerous to Ghana’s democracy.
“Voters say that they have seen the NPP and NDC and they are going through same difficulties all the time. So, the real problem that we face at this moment is that a lot of people who are undecided whether they want to participate in the elections at all.
“This is a danger to our democracy,” he said.
Prof. Jonah encouraged politicians to do more to convince voters that they would perform better when offered the mandate in the upcoming elections.
“Between now and voting time, this is the time for politicians to convince those people who are sitting on the fence right now that things are going to change, in terms of the ways which politicians have performed in the past.
“Otherwise, a lot of people have decided that they won’t vote at all,” he said.
It is barely six months to the 2024 General Election and political parties and aspirants are criss-crossing the country to make a case to various segments of voters, stakeholders, and opinion leaders in a bid to win their support.
The parties appear to have adopted stakeholder engagements and house-to-house campaigns as starting points to the year-long campaign that is expected to intensify in the coming months.
The IDEG observed that the parties had adopted a shift in strategy at the initial stages of the campaign by targeting identifiable groups and people without spending too much financial resources.
Prof. Jonah described the approach adopted by the parties as a “very good beginning” and expressed hope that the parties would adopt measures to reduce the cost of their campaigns.
He said big rallies increased the cost of politics and proposed the allocation of a principal place where politicians could engage with voters directly instead of staging rallies in every district, constituency, and region.
“If we want to cut down the cost of politics, we should begin a process. Instead of big rallies, having a central place where the leaders can go, talk to people, supporters, we can make more progress in cutting down the cost of politics,” he said.
GNA