The claims and counter-claims by the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress prior to the declaration of certified election results was simply a psychological warfare.
Spokesperson for President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, said the two parties both claimed they were winning to keep their supporters upbeat and hopeful.
Mustapha Hamid said accusations that the NPP acted irresponsibly by projecting a win and calling on President John Mahama to concede defeat are baseless.
Campaign Chairman of the NPP’s 2016 campaign, Peter Mac Manu was widely condemned for a press conference he called around 2am Thursday morning saying the NPP had, on the data received from polling stations across the country, won the elections.
But speaking on MultiTV/Joy FM’s news analysis programme, Newsfile, Mustapha Hamid said the NPP simply reacted to statements by the NDC.
He pointed out that long before the NPP’s press conference, spokesperson for the NDC’s campaign, Mrs Joyce Bawa Mogtari had issued a statement claiming that the president was in a comfortable lead.
According to him, that statement by the NDC was surprising because the figures available to the NPP showed clearly that “we had clearly won the elections.”
“We thought that they had taken the lead in playing the psychological games and infusing it into the public space that they were in the lead and [this] was going to demoralise our people,” he noted.
Under the circumstances, he said the NPP was compelled to respond by assuring its supporters that the NDC’s claims were baseless.
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