2012 Election Will Be Won Or Lost Last Week In November � Ben Ephson

Pollster and Editor Ben Ephson has predicted that the winner of the 2012 elections will be determined in the last week of November. �This election will be won or lost in the last week of November. Whichever party uses its head and strategises properly, using (their) heads will win the election� he declared on Adom FM�s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Wednesday September 19, 2012. Ghanaians will go to the polls on December 7 to choose a President and Parliamentarians to govern the country for the next four years. Speaking a day after President John Mahama outdoored Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as his running mate for the upcoming election, Mr Ephson said the strategies mapped out by the two leading parties to market their candidates, especially their running mates, will determine their fortunes in the December poll. According to the Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, there was little to choose between the NDC running mate and his opposite number in the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, both of whom have worked with the Bank of Ghana but lack the oratory skills of Nana Akufo-Addo and President John Mahama. �The little advantage Amissah-Arthur has over Dr Bawumia is his political background�as Deputy Minister and Governor of Bank of Ghana� Mr Ephson stated. With just 79 days to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, Mr Ephson said the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) would also play a key role in the polls, pointing out that many voters have now become IT-savvy. Extending his analysis to cover all three Vice Presidential Candidates outdoored so far � Eva Lokko of Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Kwesi Amissah-Arthur of National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mahamudu Bawumia of New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ben Ephson said the PPP might be aiming for Ga-Adangme votes with the selection of Ms Lokko, who is said to be very active in Ga-Adangme circles. This might not play out the way the party is aiming though, he warned, citing research he conducted after the 2008 election which showed that just 4-5% of Ghanaians vote on ethnic lines. Nevertheless, �Eva lokko is a good running mate in her own right, and brings something significant to the PPP ticket,� he declared. Also commenting, the National Youth Organiser of the NPP, Anthony Abayifa Karbo, insisted Vice President Amissah-Arthur �cannot be compared� to his party�s candidate, Dr Bawumia. Apart from superior knowledge, �Bawumia has grassroots campaigning experience, since 2008 when he was our running mate, and he has continued to gather more,� Karbo declared. It would therefore be wrong to compare the two men, especially since in his opinion, Dr Bawumia is a far better running mate than the NDC�s Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.