I didn’t lose election 2024 because I’m a Muslim – Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has pushed back against claims that his religion or ethnic background played a role in the party’s electoral defeat, describing such narratives as unfounded and misleading.

Speaking at the NPP headquarters during a post-election engagement with party supporters, Dr. Bawumia challenged the idea that his identity as a Muslim and a Northerner cost the party votes, citing detailed analysis of election results and other research findings.

“If you look at it, we were ten (10) contestants that went for the primaries. I was one Muslim, nine Christians, but the NPP voted for the Muslim presidential candidate. So that could not be the case. I decided to do some data analysis to test this hypothesis,” he explained.

Dr. Bawumia added that the election results debunk the theory altogether, particularly in constituencies where the NPP’s Christian parliamentary candidates received fewer votes than he did as the presidential candidate.

“The data is very clear. In many constituencies across the country, the NPP presidential candidate performed better than the Christian parliamentary candidates. So it couldn’t be if they were voting because of religion, I shouldn’t be performing better than the Christian parliamentary candidates,” he said.

Turning to the party’s internal processes, Dr. Bawumia also praised the recently submitted report by former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye. The report, he indicated, will serve as a roadmap for structural reforms within the NPP, especially regarding the delegate system used to elect party leaders.

He hinted that major recommendations from the review committee would be implemented to strengthen party unity and improve its prospects in future elections.