Politics of Friday, 9 November 2012

Source: radioxyzonline.com

Too early to predict who wins December polls - Ephson

Pollster Ben Ephson says his yet-to-be-released polls confirm the Economist Intelligence Unit’s prediction that the December polls will be a close race between President John Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo.

The Economist Intelligence Unit in its October report predicts that President John Mahama is the slight favourite in the December polls.

The report said the power of incumbency will also give some advantage to the NDC especially in terms of spending the early oil windfall.

Though Mr Ephson says it will be a closely contested race he thinks it is too early to predict who will be in the lead.

He says the posturing of Ex-President Rawlings towards the NDC and how much sympathy memories Ghanaians have over the death of President Mills may be critical factors leading up to the December polls.

“We cannot make any definite statement that the NDC is going to win but it is very close but unless we finish, it could be anybody’s game”, he said adding “I don’t think that incumbency plays a vital part.”

He said the parties need to tell their stories well if they want the chance to lead the nation as Ghanaians have become very sophisticated and would want to hear a lot more of the plans and how they will be implemented.