Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the former vice president and 2024 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called on party members to understand that they are the ones who would determine the party’s political success in the future.
He emphasized that the party needs to boost involvement from its own followers in order to win future elections.
Speaking during the NPP’s thank-you tour, in a video shared on X by JoyNews on April 23, 2025, he said, “The fact is, we work very hard. We try to get everybody involved. As you know, the General Secretary was the Director of Operations for the campaign. The Women’s Organiser organised the women. The Youth Organiser organised the youth. The Nasara Coordinator handled the Zongo, and so on.”
He continued, “So, we tried to do as much as we could. Notwithstanding our hard work, however, we still suffered a heavy defeat. And when you look at what happened, you will see that it was internal. So, the key to victory going forward is within the NPP, it is within ourselves, because we decided not to vote. So, if we decide to vote, we will win. The key is ourselves. It is ourselves. That is what we have to understand and take forward.”
Approximately 2.1 million NPP supporters abstained from voting, which had a major effect on the party’s performance, according to Dr. Bawumia.
On the other hand, opposition candidate John Dramani Mahama received an additional 115,000 votes, which significantly altered the outcome.
“Many of our supporters did not come out to vote. This is really, fundamentally, why we lost the election. 2.1 million of our supporters didn’t come out, 2.1 million. And if you look at John Mahama’s votes, his votes went up by maybe 115,000. So, he increased by 115,000, and we went down by 2.1 million. That is basically why we did not win, because we decided not to vote,” he stated.