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14.12.2004 Politics

Rawlings’s Active Involvement In campaigns Was Effective- Obed

14.12.2004 LISTEN
By JOY ONLINE

The National Democratic Congress has for the first time admitted that former president Jerry Rawlings's active involvement in the campaign could have affected the party's chances of winning the elections.

The NDC presidential candidate polled 43% of the votes in Tuesday's election and its being suggested that Mr. Rawlings's campaign style could have negatively influenced the party's chances of winning the floating votes it needed to secure victory.

Dr Obed Asamoah who spoke to Joy FM explained that although there's divided opinion within the party about Mr. Rawlings contribution, he believes that some of his utterances were detrimental to the party.

“ He was an assert but I believe that some of his utterances were not helpful”, he said.

He noted that utterances such as ' I'm coming back' enabled the NPP to play on the fact should the NDC come back to power, the former president was going to rule.

Dr. Asamoah however pointed out that there were positive aspects to Mr. Rawlings's contributions to the NDC's campaign.

He said ex-president Rawlings had the capacity to galvanise supporters and draw a crowd to most of their rallies, where the party had the opportunity to address the people.

Asked whether he thought that the ex-president overshadowed Prof Mills, Dr Asamoah said the founder of the party did not intentionally overshadow the presidential candidate but it was over enthusiasm for the good course of the party.

He said there was a lot of coordination between the office of Prof Mills and that of the former president and that there was nothing that the ex-president did that Prof Mills was not aware of.

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