Former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia won the New Patriotic Party’s nomination to become its 2028 presidential candidate after winning Saturday’s primaries.
Dr Bawumia polled 110,643 votes, representing 56.48 per cent of the total valid votes, to claim victory in a keenly contested race involving three strong contenders.
His closest competitors, Kennedy Agyapong and Dr Bryan Acheampong, obtained 46,554 votes (23.8 per cent) and 36,303 votes (18.3 per cent) respectively.
In an emphatic showing, Dr Bawumia dominated the contest nationwide, winning in 14 regions, while Kennedy Agyapong secured victory only in the Central Region, and Dr Bryan Acheampong won in the Volta Region.
2023 versus 2026
In 2023, Dr Bawumia secured victory with 61.7 per cent, compared with 56.48 per cent in 2026. On the surface, this suggests that the 2023 result was stronger due to the higher percentage.
However, a critical comparative analysis of the 2023 and 2026 results reveals a more emphatic and broader endorsement of Dr Bawumia in 2026 than in 2023.
The former Vice President received wider and more evenly distributed support across the country, both in terms of constituencies won and the sharing of votes between him and his closest competitors.
In terms of the vote gap between Dr Bawumia and the runner-up, he won the 2023 primaries with a margin of 46,214 votes over Kennedy Agyapong, while in 2026 he recorded a much larger margin of 64,089 votes.
Regarding the spread of votes across regions—an indicator of broader delegate appeal—Dr Bawumia showed remarkable dominance in 10 regions, winning all constituencies in the Western, Bono, Ahafo, Bono East, Western North, Savannah, North East, Upper West, Northern and Oti Regions.
In the Upper East Region, where some analysts had predicted weaker performance in certain constituencies, Dr Bawumia again dominated, winning 14 out of 15 constituencies. This resulted in an almost 100 per cent sweep in constituencies across 11 of the 16 regions, a feat not achieved in 2023.
In two regions with the highest number of votes and constituencies—the Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions—Dr Bawumia also performed better than in 2023.
In the Ashanti Region, Dr Bawumia won 45 out of 47 constituencies, with one of the two constituencies he did not win being Bosomtwe, where fellow aspirant Dr Osei Yaw Adutwum is the Member of Parliament and therefore won comfortably.
In the Greater Accra Region, Dr Bawumia won 32 out of 34 constituencies, a significant improvement on the 19 constituencies he secured in the previous primaries.
With Greater Accra being the region with the highest number of votes, Dr Bawumia also recorded a much larger winning margin over his closest contender, Kennedy Agyapong.
In 2023, Dr Bawumia won the region by a margin of about 2,000 votes, but in 2026 he achieved a commanding margin of approximately 7,000 votes.
In the Central Region, the home region of Kennedy Agyapong and the only region he won, Dr Bawumia also performed better than in 2023, winning seven constituencies, compared with four in the previous primaries.
In the Eastern Region, where Dr Bryan Acheampong hails from and was expected to pose a strong challenge, Dr Bawumia again demonstrated his dominance, winning the region comfortably with a margin of nearly 5,000 votes.
Overall, while the percentage share of votes was higher in 2023, the 2026 victory, with 56.48 per cent, was more emphatic and reflected broader delegate appeal than in 2023.
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