The Influential Role of Presidential Running Mates and Partys’ Success During General Elections in Ghana: A Case of 2020 And 2024 Elections

Abstract

Politics, it is said, is about who gets what, when and how, power and the powerful, influence and the influential. Political parties are established to compete for power either to win or lose. The party which wins power through elections is automatically granted legitimate authority to run the country, govern the people and to control resources. This study argues that political parties in Ghana have resorted to many campaign strategies during elections ranging from rallies, door-to-door canvassing, and distribution of gifts in varied forms to mobilize voters to enable them to win elections. However, a new strategy is emerging in recent times which seem to reflect the politics of choosing a Running mate by the flag bearer and the influential role of such a Presidential Running mate episode for the party’s success during general elections in Ghana. How could the choice of a particular Presidential Running mate influence the voting behaviour of Ghanaians and for that matter the success story of the party in question during general election in 2020 in retrospect and in 2024 prospectively? Using post-elections survey data from Ghana’s 2020 election, and, survey as well as in-depth interviews, this study explores the Influential role of Presidential Running mates for Party’s success during general elections in Ghana. Findings revealed that in recent times, choosing a Presidential Running mate has become a very controversial issue in the Ghanaian electoral politics because of the influential nature of the process and the politics of lobbyism. Also, the results showed that although the role of the Presidential Running mate seems to become more attractive and influential, nonetheless, the traditional campaign strategies do have high propensity to galvanize voters’ supports for the party’s success during elections. It concludes that choosing a Presidential Running mate based on consultation and consensus building is likely for the party to succeed in getting a requisite candidate of the people’s choice which could translate into gaining huge supports from the electorate. It suggests that although Presidential Running mates could play influential role for Party’s success during general elections in Ghana, other effective strategies reflecting issue-based campaign strategies should be considered during election campaigns for better results.