The leadership of the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper West Region, has unveiled a campaign to maintain its political dominance in the region ahead of the 2016 election.
Dubbed “operation 79%,” the plan is to secure at least 79 percent of the votes cast in the 2016 presidential elections and win all the eleven parliamentary seats in the area.
Mr. Mathew Sung-aabu, Upper West Chairman of the NDC, disclosing details of the campaign strategy, said the plan forms part of an agenda to ensure that president John Mahama wins the 2016 election with a wider margin “to discourage the opposition New Patriotic Party from going to court”.
[contextly_sidebar id=”72BfBFU77a1o6P9Qco6ZPmuMQHqZL0lt”]Mr. Mathew explained “we have to win resoundingly to discourage the NPP. In fact, the strategy is designed to bring back our members who for one reason or the other have joined the NPP. The process actually has started because we already invited all old disgruntled members to join us and we are going to intensify this until we get all our members back to their roots.”
The chairman added that as part of plans to attract floating voters to the party, a team will be constituted to constantly update inhabitants of the region on the development projects of the Mahama-led administration.
He appealed to the rank and file of the party in the region to conduct themselves in a manner that will not derail the peace that currently prevails in the party.
Voting trend
Available records indicate that the NDC got 51 percent of the total valid votes cast in the 1992 general elections, 76 percent in 1996 and 62.7 percent in the year 2000.
In 2004, the party garnered 69.97 percent and reduced to 57 percent in 2008. However in the last general election, they appreciated to 65.54% and won 10 out of the eleven parliamentary seats in the Upper West Region.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemna, believes that with the current internal wrangling within the main opposition New Patriotic Party , the NDC has what it takes to win more votes than “the operation 79 percent” projection.
He opined, “we have all the ammunition that we can unleash in the 2016 campaign to win more votes for our party. This can be seen in the area of water, electricity, health, educational infrastructure and what have you”.
He called on residents of the region to continue to support the president, saying “if for nothing at all, to maintain the peace we are currently enjoying. We are all aware that we have friends who are also struggling to come to power; but cannot even manage themselves not to talk of the whole country.”
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By Mahama Latif/citifmonline.com/Ghana