Most MPs in place may lose their seat – Research

Politics of Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Source: atinkaonline.com

2019-06-11

Most outgoing MPs risk losing their seats to their opponents in the 2020 elections because of the broken promises of voters, according to research.

Existing MPs are also at risk of losing their seats if elections are to be held today, as most of them have failed to travel to their constituency after being elected to power. .

A study conducted by the Department of Political Science and Social Sciences in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung revealed that 49.5% of Ghanaians would not vote for incumbent MPs, while 42.6% were likely to vote for MPs.

However, 7.9% were undecided when asked if they would vote for the MP in place.

The study was conducted on 275 constituencies by interviewing 100 people from each of the constituencies. 27,500 people were interviewed.

At the regional level, it was also shown that the region receiving the greatest support to incumbents in place of NPP candidates, if elections were held today, was the Oti (66.0%) , where they occupy one seat.

In the three regions with the highest number of seats, support for incumbents was lower with Ashanti-44 seats (45.8%), Eastern-27 (42.3%) and Grand Accra-21 seats ( 31.3%).

In four regions, more than 10% were undecided: Upper East (10.1%), Greater Accra (10.5%), Western North (16.3%) and North East (17.6%)
However, if elections were held today, the majority of NDC voters with the most favorable support is Ahafo (60.4%), where the NDC holds two seats.

In the three regions where NDC has the largest number of seats, support for incumbents was lower: Volta-18 seats (56.4%), Greater Accra-13 seats (39.5%) and Upper East- 12 seats (36.9%), while in five regions more than 10% were undecided: Upper East (10.1), North East (10.6%), Eastern (13.1%), Western North ( 15.9%) and Central (16.2%)

"The" yes "of outgoing candidates ranged from 90% to less than 10%. 95 of the 275 members would ask their constituency to vote for them: 90% + (1), 80% + (8), 70% + (10), 60% + (26) and 50% + (50). 53 others had support from 40% to 49%, 57 others support from 30% to 39%, 40 others support from 20% to 29%, 25 others support from 10% to 19% and 5 others had less support. 10% support, "says the study.

The results also showed that NPP deputies were not involved in disseminating information on the government's flagship programs, particularly One District One Factory and One Village One Dam.

When asked if MPs had promised development projects, 88.7% said yes, while 11.3% said no.
Some of the promised and held promises were hospital construction, road construction, job creation, water supply, electrification, completion of unfinished projects, higher prices for agricultural products and others. .

On the other hand, the broken promises were the construction of hospitals, road construction, employment, supply of water, supply of electricity, realization of unfinished projects, etc.

It showed that what people did not like about MPs was that they did not visit the riding, when it was difficult to communicate with most of them.

In Accra, 51.6% of participants said that MPs did not visit and 56.3% also confirmed that MPs did not visit the Ashanti region.

Kaakyire Frempong, a senior lecturer at Politcal's Political Science Department, advised MPs to carefully weigh their campaign promises, with their constituents holding them accountable.

"Many voters are worried about the continuing absence of their MPs in their communities. So they need to improve their levels of interaction and communication with their constituents, MPs need to badess the mood of their constituents when they decide, "he said.

On the basis of this report, Dr. Isaac Owusu Mensah, Lecturer at the UG's Department of Political Science, revealed that Collins Dauda, ​​MP for Asutifi South, was the best MP from Ghana , while Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education and MP for Manhyia South Constituency is Ghana's best minister after the investigation.

He urged MEPs to make sure that their constituencies are developed while making themselves available to voters who wish to retain their seats.
"The NDCs in the opposition are doing well, so if you are in power and you do not get away with it, there are no resources," he added.

For his part, the deputy from Banda and the minority chief bad, Ahmed Ibrahim, who congratulated the researchers for their work, recommended a serious commitment from all MPs.

"They did a very good job. It's the first time that their research takes this angle by focusing on MPs. Nobody is perfect, we must bring our experience. We should all come together as members to discuss it. When you promise, you have to promise in moderation, "he said.

The deputy of the Oforikrom constituency, Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, who refuted the perception that deputies do not go to their constituency after their election to power, explained that they could not surrender in ridings because they used most of their time to follow projects in the constituency interest.

Rodaline Imoru Ayarna, a member of the PCP, also urged the researchers to explain why Ghanaians still voted for the NDC and the NPP, while they ignored all the smaller parties.

She was of the opinion that while most of the smaller parties had funding problems, most of them had what it took to develop the country, calling for the need to fund smaller parties.