Elections 2020: Nearly 50% of voters will vote against their MPs – Report

General News of Monday, June 10, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-06-10

Research conducted by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana revealed that 49.5% of Ghanaians surveyed said they would not vote for the incumbent, citing poor results and lack of representation.

Interestingly, 42.6% of respondents were also of the opinion that their MPs deserved a second chance, while 7.9% of respondents were undecided.

The research also indicated that a majority of respondents representing 46.7% did not want their current MPs to run in the 2020 general election.

42.4% want their MPs to challenge while 10.9% are undecided about whether or not their MPs should challenge.

Respondents were also asked to rate the performance of parliamentarians and the result showed that less than half of the respondents representing 45.7% were satisfied. 52.3% were not satisfied with the performance of parliamentarians.

The research entitled "A Mid-Term Study of MPs: Emerging Issues" also revealed that the alleged poor performance by MPs was responsible for voter apathy among voters.

Research also found that at the national level, 87.8% of respondents said they intended to vote in the next general election, compared with 9.7% of respondents who said they would not vote if the Elections were taking place today.

About 2.5% of respondents were undecided.

Respondents were asked to rate the performance of their MPs so far on the "Excellent to very bad" scale, with less than half of the 45.7% satisfied, the majority, 52.3% dissatisfied.

"The generally poor performance of elected officials induces voter apathy
It is therefore interesting to note that despite the generally non-impressive performance of MPs, more than four out of five respondents said they would vote, 9.7% refused to vote and 2.5% were undecided. "

"In this follow-up question; 49.5% answered "no" They would not vote for the outgoing president. 42.6% of respondents answered "yes". They would vote for the outgoing president, 7.9% were undecided.

The researchers called on parliamentarians to be cautious in holding the kind of promises they made during campaigns, adding that their continued absence from their constituency could affect their bid for re-election.

"MPs must carefully weigh their campaign promises, with their constituents holding them accountable for these promises."

"Many voters are worried about the continued absence of their MPs from their communities. They must therefore improve their level of interaction and communication with their constituents. "

"They have to badess the mood of their constituents when they decide to challenge or not. It should be noted that in 2016, 50 incumbents lost their primary and another 50 lost the elections. "

The researchers revealed that 27,500 Ghanaians in 275 constituencies across the country participated in the study.