TITLE:
Are Voters Mind Static? Statistical Analysis of Unremitting Shift of Mind of Ghanaian Voters (2016-2020)
AUTHORS:
Samuel Kwaku Obeng, Peter K. Nyarko, Kofi Samuel Bassah Quansah
KEYWORDS:
Voters, Mindset, Unremitting Shift, Ghanaian, Electorate
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Statistics,
Vol.13 No.4,
August
8,
2023
ABSTRACT: Elections
play a crucial role in a very democratic society as they provide a means of
electing their preferred candidates or leaders. It serves as a mechanism for
expressing the collective will of the people and ensuring a peaceful transfer
of power. This study therefore seeks to determine the difference between the
proportion of votes garnered by the two main political parties during 2016 and
2020 elections. The study employed descriptive research design with two
population proportion tests and found that Ghanaian voters in 2020 shifted
towards the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at 95% confidence level.
Moreover, in 2016, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeated the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) with close to a million votes. Thus, in 2020
election, the results clearly indicate a shrank in the margin of votes between
the two main political parties in Ghana. The results further revealed that
during the 2016 and 2020 elections, Ghanaians changed their pattern of voting
towards these two political parties. Additionally, the New Patriotic Party lost
more votes as compared to what they garnered in the year 2016 at 95% and 99.9%
confidence level. Also, the gap of votes between the two main political parties
shrank at 95% and 99.9% confidence level. Based on the findings of the study,
it was further concluded that political parties should not take the voters for
granted and it should be known to political leaders that the voters have now
changed their mindset and have shifted from the previously tribalistic line of
voting. Therefore, for a political party to remain in power, it must promote
good public relations with the masses and good campaign messages or policies
that are beneficial to the electorates.