2.1 million NPP members didn’t vote, leading to 2024 elections defeat – Dr. Bawumia

The 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has emphatically stated that the party lost the 2024 General Elections primarily because a significant number of its members did not vote.

Speaking on the first day of the Party’s National Thank You Tour on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the party’s headquarters in Accra, Dr. Bawumia acknowledged the dedicated efforts of all party members, from the National Organizer, Women’s Organizer, and General Secretary to grassroot supporters.

Despite these collective efforts, he noted that the party was defeated, an outcome that has since been interpreted in various ways. However, he emphasized that the loss stemmed from internal issues.

Dr. Bawumia revealed that a major concern was voter turnout, explaining that approximately 2.1 million NPP supporters failed to vote compared to the 2020 elections. He contrasted this with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), noting that while the NDC increased its votes by 115,000, the NPP’s vote count dropped by over 2 million, clearly indicating that low voter turnout among NPP supporters was the main cause of the defeat.

He also took the opportunity to refute claims that the NPP lost the election because he is a Muslim. He dismissed these allegations as baseless, pointing out that during the party’s primaries, he was the only Muslim among ten candidates, yet delegates chose him to lead, proving that religion was not a factor.

Further reinforcing this point, Dr. Bawumia said his own analysis showed that in many constituencies across the country, he, as the presidential candidate, performed better than the Christian parliamentary candidates on the same ballot.

Citing an example in the Assin South Constituency, he outperformed his friend, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, the sitting MP, despite Fordjour being a Reverend Minister. This, he said, was evidence that religion did not influence voters’ choices.

Dr. Bawumia argued that the loss was not due to religious bias but rather an internal challenge that the party must address moving forward.