According to Mussa Dankwah, Executive Director of Global Info Analytics, Alan Kyerematen’s withdrawal from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primary helped both Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central.
Dr. Bawumia received 118,210 votes, or 61.47% of the vote, while Mr. Agyapong received 71,996 votes, or 37.41%.
The Vice President also led in 14 of the country’s 16 regions, with the Assin Central MP winning the remaining Central and Volta regions.
In an interview on Point of View on Citi TV on Monday, Mr. Dankwah said, “There was Alan effect everywhere. If you look at the success of Bawumia and even Kennedy, they all benefitted from Alan’s exit from the race because the polls show that about a third of Alan’s supporters voted for Bawumia and the other two-thirds voted for Kennedy. So they both benefitted from Alan’s exit.”
Meanwhile, the governing NPP has dismissed suggestions that it was under pressure to elect Dr. Bawumia as its first non-Akan flagbearer ahead of the 2024 election.
According to the party, the perception that the NPP is an Akan-dominated party played no role in Dr. Bawumia’s election.
National Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye, in an interview with Citi News, said delegates of the party saw the Vice President as the NPP’s best bet in the 2024 election.
“First of all, we need to understand that his persona, his ability to woo people to himself also worked,” Nana Boakye said, adding, “Over the years, he has also sacrificed a lot. He had to put aside his profession and join and be a running mate for almost 12 years before becoming the Vice President.”
