He said the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections were a replica of the 2000 general election and that both recorded low voter turnout and gave victory to the opposition party with majority in Parliament.

Mr Kpodo, speaking to the Ghana News Agency, said Ho Central and other constituencies in the Volta Region recorded average voter turnouts of 63 per cent as witnessed across the country and could not be blamed for causing the defeat of the NDC.

The NDC won 53,117 popular votes at the December polls in Ho Central as against 62,363 in 2012. He said though the region fell short of its “gap one million” target for President Mahama and garnered only 460,000 votes difference between President Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo, the one million votes difference could still not have won the election for President Mahama because turnout in other parts of the country was low.

“Votes in every single constituency across the country reduced compared to 2012. Even if we achieved our one million target it would not be enough for us to win,” Mr Kpodo said.  He attributed the poor performance of the NDC at the December polls to the “mouth- watering promises” of the NPP which people thought are feasible.

 “We have done well but NPP’s mouth-watering promises of restoration of nurses’ and teachers’ allowances and reduction in taxes attracted floating voters.” Mr Kpodo said though Ho Central failed to achieve its target of 80,000 votes on the more than 95,000 electoral roll, it maintained its position from 2012 as the second highest constituency in garnering votes for President Mahama.

The Volta Region, a stronghold for the NDC, recorded a reduction in popular votes in the December polls across all constituencies for the NDC and was attracting unfavourable comments from some NDC activists for allegedly letting the party down.GNA’s coverage of the elections, dubbed; “GNA Tracks Election 2016,” was funded by the Ghana Oil Company Limited, the nation’s foremost indigenous oil marketing company and CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year. It also had sponsorship from Life Petroleum.