Political scientist Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante has challenged the narrative offered by the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, regarding the party’s defeat in the 2024 general elections.
In an interview on JoyNews‘ The Pulse on Wednesday, April 23, he argued that the low turnout among their supporters was a deliberate protest vote.
His remarks come in response to comments made by Dr. Bawumia during the launch of the NPP’s nationwide Thank You Tour, where he attributed the party’s loss to internal issues, particularly the failure of their supporters to show up at the polls.
Dr. Asah-Asante, however, believes the lack of voter participation should not be dismissed as mere disinterest but as a powerful political message from the party’s base.
“If they’ve gone to the field to pick data and introduce what their data is saying, fine. “But I hold a different view. In political science, when you expect 20 people to vote for you, and only 10 do, the remaining 10 have protested against you. It’s a protest vote.”
He explained that even though these supporters did not physically cast their ballots, their absence represented a form of indirect voting — a conscious decision to withhold support as a signal of dissatisfaction with the party’s leadership or direction.
“They knew very well that even if they had gone, the numbers would have increased — and yet they stayed away. That action, in itself, is a vote against you. It’s not that they didn’t vote; they voted with their absence,” Dr. Asah-Asante noted.
He urged the party to take a deeper introspective look at the reasons behind the loss, especially considering the dramatic reversal from the NPP’s significant electoral victory just four years earlier, with over a million-vote margin.
“Why is it that the same group of people did not want them to stay in power? That’s the real question they should be asking,” he stated.