84% of Ghanaians vote for personal gains - CDD

Europa 11:31 - 24 May 2016

84% of Ghanaians vote for personal gain (File photo)

According to the report, several Ghanaians do not really care about the effectiveness of their candidates, both parliamentary and presidential, to ensure infrastructural development in their constituencies.

Eighty-four percent of Ghanaian voters make their choices during election based on how they can directly benefit from a particular candidate, a study conducted by the Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD), has revealed.

The research was conducted in some 10 constituencies with high incidence of poverty, including the Akan Constituency in the Volta Region, Bosome Freho in the Ashanti Region and Odododiodio in the Greater Accra region.

The expectations, preferences, and behavior of Ghanaian voters towards their MPs during elections were assessed in the research.

Vote-buying during elections is a common phenomenon in Ghana, following the abject poverty being faced by several citizens.

The situation compels many of them to accept monies and other items from their MPs and presidential candidates in order to influence their voting patterns.