The Centre for Decentralization Democracy has collated data on declared winners of the December 19 District Assembly Elections across the 261 Districts, releasing a comprehensive regional distribution of winners, by political affiliations.
The data covers the winners of the District Assembly Elections across 5,445 electoral areas out of a total of 6215. The Electoral Commission has scheduled the remaining elections in the 770 Electoral areas (489 in the Eastern Region and 281 in the Ashanti Region) to be conducted on Thursday 21st December 2023.
According to its findings, pro-NDC Candidates won 45.4% of the total Electoral Areas, PRO-NPP Candidates won 47.2% of the total Electoral Areas and Neutrals/Independent/other Political Parties had 7.5% of the total Electoral Areas.
In an earlier study to evaluate the presence and influence of political party affiliations on District Assembly candidates, the Centre made the stark revelation that of the 18,755 contenders vying for positions, a total of 8,846 were associated with the governing New Patriotic Party while another 8,474 candidates leaned towards the opposition NDC.
According to the Centre, it undertook to investigate the phenomenon of political affiliation and influence in District Assembly elections, to enrich ongoing discussions with data, and consequently clarify the status quo regarding the conventional practices at this crucial grassroots level elections. As can be inferred from the two studies, a nominee’s political affiliations impact their likelihood of success in these contests. Candidates used covert and overt actions, including the colour schemes in their campaign posters to convey their political party affiliations.
The latest findings by the Centre reflect slightly stronger popularity of NPP-affiliated candidates, followed closely by affiliates of the opposition NDC.
The remaining electoral areas yet to vote are in Ashanti and Eastern Regions, which are historically political strongholds of the incumbent. It is therefore likely that NPP affiliates will attain more electoral victories, come 21st December.
The results also cement existing arguments of proponents who advocate the need for open political partisanship in the District Assembly elections. Analysts argue that despite current national challenges, citizens may have identified that government-affiliated assembly members are more effective in the delivery of their mandate, whereas opposition representatives may conveniently blame ineffectiveness on a lack of government support.
A bigger question remains about whether the prevalent higher success rate by the ruling government’s affiliates may translate into national support, as the government positions itself to convince citizens for another term in office.