Former Minister for Railways Development and former Member of Parliament for Hohoe, Hon. John Peter Amewu, has attributed the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) loss in the 2024 general elections largely to economic challenges, leadership perception, and other critical “swing factors” that shaped voter behaviour across the country.
Speaking in a post-election assessment on JoyNews, Mr. Amewu acknowledged that the Akufo-Addo administration recorded strong achievements after assuming office in 2017 but admitted that later developments undermined the party’s electoral fortunes.
“When we took over power in 2017, we did extremely well. Nobody can take that fact away from His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his team,” he said.
However, he explained that economic pressures and governance-related concerns gradually eroded public confidence in the party.
“Certain factors, mainly economic, dropped in later. These are what I call swing factors in voter analysis, and they affected the NPP across constituencies and nationally,” Mr. Amewu noted.
According to him, issues such as economic performance, leadership perception, corruption concerns, and taxation significantly influenced voting patterns.
“Basically, we were booted out because of our economic performance, leadership skills, corruption issues, taxes, among others. These swing factors account for about 60 to 70 per cent of voting behaviour in Ghana,” he stated.
Mr. Amewu said once these factors turn against a governing party, electoral defeat becomes almost inevitable.
“If all these factors are against you, then you already know you are on your way out. And that is exactly what happened,” he added.
He further linked the party’s poor performance to the loss of several parliamentary seats, including his own.
“Most of my colleague Members of Parliament were voted out. I was rejected, and the NPP presidential candidate who was representing the party as a government-in-waiting was also rejected,” he said.
Mr. Amewu concluded that the combination of economic challenges, leadership perception, and voter dissatisfaction collectively accounted for the NPP’s defeat in the elections.
