[ 2016-11-30 ]

NPP may lose December polls - Lydia Forson
Popular Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson has
suggested the opposition New Patriotic Party is
likely to lose the December 7 polls.

According to her, the intolerance of supporters of
the NPP and the perception that Ghanaians are
frustrated and so want change is likely to go
against the opposition party during the polls.

“They’re banking on the general perception
that people are frustrated with the ruling party,
and because of this want change, hence their
campaign message. But this assumption and the
insistence that ALL Ghanaians should feel this way
coupled with the campaign they’re running, is
why I believe they may probably not win the
elections.

“They’re looking at the country through the
eyes of the opposition, and this is one of the
points I spoke against in my piece on
understanding the Ghanaian electorate Your Ghana
isn’t everyone else’s Ghana, meaning how you
see the country isn’t the way everyone else
does,” Ms. Forson wrote in an article on her
blog.

She added that the NPP has failed to win members
who disagree with them into their fold but rather
“mistakenly campaigning AGAINST members of the
ruling party and anyone else who doesn’t support
this claim, instead of campaigning TO them.”


Below is the full write-up:

Lessons from America's presidential race; why the
main opposition (NPP) may lose in the upcoming
elections

I started writing this piece a few weeks ago but I
wasn’t sure if it was worth sharing.

Before I proceed, however, it’s important I make
this disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: A lot of you are not going to like me
after this post, and for those who already don’t
you’re probably going to despise me more. I may
lose some friends after this, but I won’t lose
much sleep if I do because my real friends respect
that we don’t have to always agree.

The attention and backlash I receive each time I
share my opinion is enough to make anyone afraid
of speaking out on issues in this country.

I guess because of the misconception that only a
“chosen” few are qualified to speak on
politics and national issues, people are quick to
tag me a controversial attention seeker.(if only
this title was something worth fighting for)

I’m a Ghanaian citizen of sound mind and a
registered voter; meaning I have EVERY RIGHT to
speak on issues in this country, and so should
anyone who feels incline to do so, we shouldn’t
to be bullied into silence because it’s our
constitutional RIGHT.

When Ben Ephson, the Editor of the Daily Dispatch
newspaper and pollster made predictions on the
elections, the brouhaha surrounding it, has
encouraged me to share this piece I wrote a while
back.

Now I’m no pollster, analyst or expert, and I
won’t pretend to have any facts, proper research
or idea of how election predictions are made.

My predictions are made on intuition and my
ability to completely look beyond my sentiments
and personal conviction to see what it is instead
of what it should be. They’re also based on
conversations I’ve had with people, things
I’ve witnessed and experiences I’ve had.

If you follow my blog then you will remember how I
predicted Donald Trump could be the next president
of America last year in July, exactly a year later
and he won the Republican ticket to be the
presidential candidate and went on to also win the
general elections.

I received a lot of heat for this at the time,
with many friends assuming I was a Trump
supporter; which wasn’t the case. I didn’t and
still don’t like the man, but I understood the
campaign he was running, because he had one aim
only, to appeal to a target group of people so he
could ultimately win the election.

And we can argue that Trump didn’t win the
popular vote, but it doesn’t change the fact
that MILLIONS of Americans voted for him, much to
the surprise of many people especially the
democrats.

And this is what the opposition should have learnt
from this outcome; that a man so hated, having
some of the most powerful politicians, networks,
media houses etc unite against him like never in
the history of America’s presidential race;
still went on to win is nothing short of a
miracle.

Against all pollsters, opinions polls and
predictions, Donald Trump defied all odds and
shocked Americans and the world at large.

If this doesn’t tell you the electorate isn’t
as predictable and neither are the elections, then
I don’t know what will.

Which is what many members of the opposition seem
to be missing and why they may also be in for a
shock.

They’re banking on the general perception that
people are frustrated with the ruling party, and
because of this want change, hence their campaign
message.

But this assumption and the insistence that ALL
Ghanaians should feel this way coupled with the
campaign they’re running, is why I believe they
may probably not win the elections.

They’re looking at the country through the eyes
of the opposition, and this is one of the points I
spoke against in my piece on understanding the
Ghanaian electorate Your Ghana isn’t everyone
else’s Ghana, meaning how you see the country
isn’t the way everyone else does.

But because of this perception, they’re
mistakenly campaigning AGAINST members of the
ruling party and anyone else who doesn’t support
this claim, instead of campaigning TO them.

This single mindset is why many of their following
are quick to fight and attempt to silence anyone
who doesn’t share in this feeling of
frustration.

Forgetting that the whole purpose of a campaign is
to appeal to voters and not bully them into voting
for you.

Their confidence in this perception is also why
the outcome may not only surprise them, but create
unnecessary tension if they don’t win.

Because they’ve propped themselves and their
following up for a guaranteed win, and planted the
seed of doubt and a possible electoral fraud if
they don’t, also very dangerous.

Notice that nearly ALL political parties accuse
Electoral Commissioners of fraud if they don’t
win, but are suspiciously silent if the same
system declares them winners.

This is a trick employed by a lot of politicians;
for instance, Trump insisted on a possible
rigging, and when he won suddenly didn’t find
the system to corrupt anymore.

What he didn’t anticipate was the doubt he
casted on the system which created room for people
to also question the legitimacy of his win.

Now it would be unfair on my part to blame all
members of the opposition and it’s following for
this behavior, I have very good friends in the
opposition who are nothing like this, but they too
agree that something’s definitely wrong if the
majority of their following behaves like this.

By alienating a section of the people because
their views don’t align with yours, will only
make it that much easier for them to vote against
your party.

I’ve had at least 3 people tell me they want a
certain party to lose, only because they find
someone on social media annoying.

Some Trump voters will tell you they didn’t like
him, but voted for him anyway because they were
willing to look past his inappropriate behavior,
because of their disdain for Hillary.

And you may think it’s ridiculous for anyone to
vote against a party just because of their disdain
for someone, but if people voted for all the right
reasons we wouldn’t have politicians sharing
rice, ice and sewing machines for votes.

Elections are about nothing else but winning for
the politicians, even if it means employing some
of the most outrageous tactics like Trump did, by
stylishly campaigning to the usually neglected
people, understanding that the KKK also had
votes.

EVERY VOTE counts, even that of the girl who’s
voting because of someone she finds annoying; so
the way your party faithful behave everywhere,
including how they verbally attack people even on
social media, will contribute to how people vote.

And this behavior isn’t unique to just the
opposition, nearly all parties are guilty of this
politics of insults, I’ve been called everything
from a prostitute to a brothel by members of the
NDC, however the opposition seems to be leading
the pack.

A simple comparison of their reaction to even
celebrity endorsements is very telling.

Celebrities and public figures who’ve endorsed
the ruling party have been ridiculed, insulted,
called money thirsty and all kinds of names.

Yet others who’ve endorsed the opposition
haven’t received that much negative attention.

Why is that?

A few weeks ago I also witnessed an interaction on
social media, where a supporter of the ruling NDC
claimed that most of its members weren’t as bold
to declare their position because they feared
insults; a supporter of the opposition quickly
responded by saying perhaps it’s because his
party was a sh** one.

Imagine that?

A smart person would have ceased the moment to
engage this person and if for nothing at all make
him see her party beyond the aggressive tone
it’s been associated with.

I’ve also had my own personal encounters with
supporters of the opposition who’ve hailed me
for speaking out against the ruling party, but
immediately turned to attack me vehemently because
I wrote in support of a decision the president had
taken.

If you don’t see the state of the nation through
their eyes, then there’s something wrong with
you; which they have no problem expressing with
choice words.

When Hillary called half of Trumps voters
deplorable, she only gave people who were probably
on the fence about voting for Trump another reason
NOT to vote for her.

Which is exactly what a lot of people in the
opposition are doing.

I still don’t understand how anyone was able to
look past Trumps bigotry, inappropriate behavior
and racist tendencies to vote for him.

But maybe if people, including me, hadn’t been
so dismissive of them; we could have engaged and
perhaps attempted to understand their position.

The silent majority does exists, and when a group
of people feel silenced because of their position,
they will band together to prove a point.

Now I’m not in any way likening the ruling party
to Trump supporters, just drawing from their
experience.

I may be wrong with my prediction, and we’ll
know in a couple of days, however the backlash I
may probably receive from members of the
opposition because of this post will only
reinforce what I’ve said.

Source - Starrfm

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