Are manifestos important in electoral campaigns?

Political parties produce manifestos before elections. Manifestos outline the policies a party will implement if they win the election.

Their purpose is to encourage citizens to vote for that party and no other. While not all manifesto promises significantly impact the electorate, key promises and slogans often play a central role in shaping media narratives and influencing voter behaviour. Manifestos are important marketing tools for political parties, and their framing and presentation are of utmost significance. Typically, manifestos are launched at a campaign event attracting media coverage.  

What is likely to be in NDC and NPP manifestos?

Ghana’s election campaign hots up less than four months before the parliamentary and presidential elections. Both major parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), published their manifestos in mid-August. The main parties are neck and neck in the polls. Voters find themselves listening to the main parties’ election claims, while being keenly aware that with their votes, they can turn out the existing government and install a new one. In Ghana’s liberal democracy, with its four-year election cycle, both the NPP and the NDC use their manifestos to present alternative views on how they plan to improve the country.

‘There are indications that democracy is failing to meet the demands of most voters’. One concern is that both the NPP and the NDC offer broadly similar programmes for governance in the next four years. Ghana is tied to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) demands for economic reforms – whichever party is in power after December 7 will have very little latitude. Some suggest that in its current state, Ghana’s democracy does not present voters with a credible choice as those elected to positions are only rarely made accountable. Nevertheless, voters can by their voting decisions hold politicians accountable; what have the manifestos got to do with it?

The first thing to note is that very few voters read manifestos; most have already committed themselves to one party or candidate before the election. Second, as already noted, IMF structures mean that whoever is in power will have very little room for manoeuvre in policy terms. Third, every four years sometimes extravagant promises are made by the parties; many remain unfulfilled, with numerous aims and objectives unachieved, leaving voters with a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to politicians’ promises. 

Although neither the NPP or the NDC’s manifesto is yet available, we can get some idea of what will be their major themes. Given that the economy is the burning issue for many voters, both parties will claim to have all the answers to Ghana’s economic woes. For the NDC, this is the 24-hour Economy, a concept which does not yet seem to have cut through for many voters. The NDC claims that the 24-hour Economy is a deliberative policy intervention to encourage and support certain businesses and companies to operate 24/7, preferably in a three-shift system of eight hours each, by creating an enabling environment that promotes productivity, competitiveness and well-paid jobs. The NPP is pledging to revive Ghana’s battered economy, fight graft and corruption and boost the private sector. 

Will manifesto promises be delivered? 

While manifesto promises do not represent statutory obligations for a government, those in power aim to adhere to them; not doing so has significant political consequences. Consequently, governments not only reference manifesto commitments while formulating policy but also try to demonstrate the achievement of previous pledges made in earlier elections.

What are the challenges in translating manifesto promises into government policy? Not all pre-election policies, although electorally popular are possible to implement. This particularly applies to opposition parties, lacking both sufficient financial resources and access to full information. Moreover, changes in circumstances may make certain manifesto promises unachievable. 

In both the 2016 and 2020 elections, the NPP made several promises, including the Free-SHS policy, Agenda-111 and the National Cathedral. The National Cathedral is most unlikely to be completed due to a combination of factors; if elected, the NDC will not pursue it. The Free-SHS has generally been implemented, albeit with some challenges. Agenda-111 per the NPP’s 2020 Manifesto, sought to construct a 100-bed hospital in each of the 101 districts without such a facility, a regional hospital in each of the six new regions, and a new regional hospital in the Western Region. Results are varied: of the 111 hospitals, 106 (95%) are at some stage of construction. Eighteen hospitals (17%) are between 70% and 85% completed; 18 have not seen any construction work at all. This suggests that the NPP Agenda-111 manifesto commitment has been partially fulfilled, with a number of uncompleted hospital projects outstanding.  

Conclusion

The track record of the last four years is that when it comes to manifesto promises, the party that achieves post-election power is unlikely to fulfil all related commitments. While it may be tempting to over-promise what a party will achieve in power, over-promises will come back to haunt the party in the next election campaign: the opposition will not forgive or forget promises unfulfilled; neither will the voters.

The writers are a Political Scientist and an Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK