In this article, I highlight some key lessons Kenya's main opposition alliance NASA can learn from the successful electoral strategy of Ghana's ruling NPP.
You can read the full article written for the London School of Economics Africa Centre here and find an excerpt below.
Some analysts have recently drawn parallels between Kenya’s upcoming elections and Ghana’s 2016 contest. Both Raila Odinga and Nana Akufo-Addo are scions of political dynasties, veteran civil rights campaigners and — until the latter’s recent election — opposition leaders. Moreover, the two politicians share a history of electoral controversies: Odinga and Akufo-Addo have taken electoral disputes to the Supreme Courts of their respective countries. While both lost their electoral petitions, Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) managed to triumph above its opponent during Ghana’s most recent presidential election by translating the lessons from Akufo-Addo’s 2012 Supreme Court loss into a successful campaign strategy. The NPP succeeded by protecting the integrity of votes at each level of the electoral system, from polling stations to constituency collation centres to the National Collation Centre. If Odinga and the National Super Alliance (NASA) hope to borrow from the NPP’s blueprint, they must first understand the key reasons for the Ghanaian party’s success at the polls.