Political marketing strategist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Kobby Mensah has stated that several studies show that the position of political parties on ballots play a role in determining how Ghanaians vote.
Speaking on JoyNews, Dr Kobby Mensah stated that a political party’s position on the ballot paper can either make it easy or difficult for voters to choose when casting their votes.
“Studies show the position of the ballot matters. When you are in the middle of the pack, there is a tendency that people could play their ballot in between.
“Being at the top of the pack helps because it is at the eye level. Among floaters or middle ground voters, top or bottom of the pack is a preferred choice,” he added.
His comments come after a balloting process was conducted by the Electoral Commission on Tuesday to determine the positions of political party presidential candidates on the ballot paper in the December elections.
The NPP and the NDC secured the number 1 and 2 positions respectively, GUM, CPP and GFP took the 3rd, 4th and 5th position on the ballot paper.
The other parties followed suit; GCPP in the 6th position, followed by the APC, LPG, PNC, PPP, NDP and the independent candidate in the 12th position respectively.
Referring to the 2000 election, he stated that former President John Agyekum Kuffour campaigned with the slogan, “aseɛhɔ” (at the bottom) based on his last position on the ballot paper and won the election.
He stated that political parties will often use their ballot positions and not their vision or message to carry out their campaigns.
He pointed to statements by Mr Peter Otokunor of the NDC who indicated that NDC’s second position on the ballot paper signalled the second coming of Mr Mahama and NPP’s John Boadu who stated that victory for the NPP is assured because of Akufo-Addo’s number 1 spot on the ballot paper.
