The Director of Communications of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, says the party is setting an ambitious target for the 2024 presidential election, to secure between 300,000 and 500,000 votes.
This projection represents a threefold to fivefold increase in voter support compared to the party’s performance in 2020.
Addressing a press conference on the “abuse of the electoral loyalty of the Volta Region” on 30th October 2024 at the New Patriotic Party Regional Headquarters in Ho, Mr Ahiagbah emphasized the party’s commitment to expanding its appeal across the country.
“Our expectation is clear: the NPP is targeting between 300,000 and 500,000 votes in the 2024 presidential election,” he stated. “This is more than just a numerical target. It represents our conviction that the message we bring — focused on economic empowerment, infrastructure, and sustainable development — is resonating with Ghanaians.”
Break stranglehold
He noted that: “This will help break the NDC’s unproductive and abusive stranglehold on the Volta Region and turn it into a battleground where the NPP and the NDC compete for votes based on programs and policies that uplift the people”.
According to him, turning the Volta Region into a battleground is possible. “It is not going to be business as usual for the NDC. The usual deception, misrepresentation of inflaming sectional differences, and the invocation of former President Rawlings as a son of Volta to derive votes. This will no longer work for the NDC,” he added.
He indicated that: “I expect the NDC to ridicule this battleground idea, but it would be foolhardy. The change in voter behaviour started with the 2020 general elections when the NPP won the Hohoe seat for the first time, improved its showing in Ketu North, and obtained 14.1 percent of the presidential votes”.
Electoral renaissance
He said the Volta Region was experiencing an electoral renaissance led by its middle class and youth, adding that “like the youth across the country, the youth of this region have embraced Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia’s fourth industrial-era programs and policies, which are designed to put the Ghanaian youth on the frontier of global competition for jobs, education, and business opportunities”.
Mr Ahiagbah further stated that “the evidence of the renaissance became manifest with the warm welcome accorded to H.E. Dr Mahadu Bawumia, the NPP presidential candidate, during his recent tour of the region. The NDC is confused. They can’t understand what is happening in the Volta Region, which is shocking. However, as a Voltarian, I am not surprised because I believe the Volta Region will someday become a competitive electoral market”.
He emphasized that the NPP’s proposition for the Volta Region was an electoral partnership to develop the region. To this end, he appealed to Voltarians to support the NPP in winning the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections and implement its Bold Solutions for Jobs and Business.
“The outcome for the Volta Region in this proposition is accelerated regional development. The considerable investment of the Akufo-Bawumia Administration in the region is a herald of mammoth growth when Dr. Bawumia becomes President,” he added.