London-based economic and political analyst, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is tipping the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to win the next general elections in 2024.
The only condition, however, to make the victory possible, according to the EIU, is for the party to pave the way for a new presidential candidate other than former President, John Dramani Mahama.
It said the chances of the NDC will be higher if Mr. Mahama, who led the party to two election losses in 2016 and 2020, is replaced to re-energise the party and boost its prospects.
These were captured in the EIU’s five-year forecast for Ghana, published on April 13, 2022.
“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 its prospects with a fresh candidate”, the EIU said.
Citing reasons for its prediction, the Unit suggested the economic crunch, poor infrastructure and deep-rooted corruption and high employment levels superintended over by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) will play a key role to inform the voter’s choice giving the NDC an upper hand in the polls.
“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 NDC therefore stands a reasonable chance of winning the 2024 elections”, parts of the EIU report mentioned.
