Negative Political Campaigns in Ghana’s 2024 Presidential Election Coverage: A Case Study of How Negative Campaigns of the NDC Caused the NPP’s Defeat
Seth Sayibu Mahama*, Rebecca Baalie and Najatu Umar
ABSTRACT
Political campaigning in Ghana is fast changing, largely because of the massive use of negative campaigning by political parties to influence voters. This study examines the deployment of negative advertising by Ghana's two leading political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 Presidential Election Campaigns. Using qualitative design involving textual and discourse analysis of speeches and adverts in newspapers and on television by the NDC and the NPP and complemented by results of polls from independent pollsters ahead of the elections, as well as desk studies of the role of the media in negative political campaigning, this study found that sections of the media were biased in favour of the NDC and the NPP in their reportage of the elections. It also found that there was a strong perception among some voters about the influence of negative campaigns in the defeat of the NPP in the 2024 general elections. Given the evidential role negative campaigns have played in the elections, it is recommended that democracy advocates, including the media intensify voter education, especially on manifestoes of political parties, the state of the economy and major pronouncements by political actors on campaign platforms, to ensure that voters are educated to take informed electoral decisions during general elections and not cast their votes based on negative labeling of politicians against their opponents. The media should also desist from allowing politicians to use their platforms to insult in the name of campaigns, as it threatens the peace of the country.
