By Yaw Ansah, GNA
Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - Barring any last-minute hitch, the search for the replacement of Mr Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, Member of Parliament (MP) for, Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency will be held on Thursday, January 31.
The candidates are; Ms Lydia Seyram Alhassan of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwasi Delali Brempong, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr William Dowokpor, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), and Mr Clement Boadi of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).
The by-election just like every other contest, each candidate has a strong conviction of securing the majority votes to emerge as winners however only one aspirant at the end would emerge as victor to continue the reign of the deceased legislature who was buried over the weekend.
The parties have, after filing their nominations, since been waging an aggressive campaign to capture that seat and present a formidable message to the Ghanaian electorate of what they have up their sleeves, not only for the by-election, but also for the general election of 2020.
Observations by the Ghana News Agency, throughout the length and breadth of the constituency, shows that the wife of the late MP, Ms Lydia Seyram Alhassan is very visible with many posters in her black mourning cloth.
There were few occasions, where pockets of students from the University of Ghana were spotted at various parts of the constituency holding placards of Ms Alhassan.
Mr Brempong, the NDC candidate is a long-standing contender of the seat and also has an appreciable level of prominence with his cheerful bills dotted at the constituency.
The PPP’s Mr Dowokpor contested in the 2016 elections so he is not new to the constituents and Mr Boadi of the LPG has the herculean task to become visible as he is a new entrant.
This will be the second time the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency will be holding a by-election.
The first was 1997, when Mr George Amoo, New Patriotic Party candidate prayed to the court to quash the official results declared on December 8 and gazetted on December 19, 1997, which made Mrs. Rebecca Akweley Adotey of the NDC winner of the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency election.
He also asked for the court to compel the Electoral Commission (EC) to collate the results of the actual votes cast in favour of each of the candidates in the constituency without recourse to a recount of the ballots and declare as the winner, the candidate to whom most votes were given at the said election
At the end, an Accra High Court presided over by Mrs Justice Agnes Dordzie, quashed the results declared by the EC on December 8, 1996 as well as the notice in the Gazette of December 19, 1996 in the name of Mrs Rebecca Akweley Adotey.
In the landmark ruling described by the judge herself as the 'dawn of a new era' and which climaxed 12 gruelling months of legal fisticuffs between the NPP ‘s Mr Amoo and the NDC’s Mrs Adotey, the latter was effectively strangulated from carrying herself as a Member of Parliament (MP).
Statistics shows that in the 2000 Election, Mr Amoo of the NPP polled 17,555, representing 56.20 per cent; Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah of the NDC polled 11,388 votes, representing 36.50 per cent; Jane Chinebuah of the CPP polled 1,077, representing 3.50 per cent; Mary Elsie Yirenkyi of the NRP, 715, representing 2.30 per cent, and Samuel Addy of the PNC polling 477 votes representing 1.50 per cent.
The NPP continued to hold on fast to the constituency in 2004, when Madam Osei Opare who contested polled 28,636, representing 52.10 per cent; Samuel Adiepena, NDC, 20,828 which translates into 37.90 per cent; Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the CPP, 4,964, nine per cent, and Henry Haruna Asante of the PNC polled 506, representing one per cent.
It became a safe seat in the 2008 election, when the current Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Madam Akosua Frema Osei Opare, stood on the ticket of the NPP, and had 24,603, representing 48.24 per cent; Albert Kwadwo Twum Boafo of the NDC had 21,564, 42.28 per cent; William Dowokpor, then of the CPP, 1,910, representing 3.75 per cent, with Henry Haruna Asante of the PNC polling 374, representing 0.73 per cent.
In 2012, Mr Agyarko of the NPP had 31,807, representing 50.30 per cent; Kwame Awuah-Darko of the NDC had 30,116 votes, representing 47.63 per cent; William Dowokpor, PPP, 998, 1.58 per cent; Antisem Donkor, CPP, 169, 0.27 per cent; Foster Apetor of the National Democratic Party (NDP), 74, 0.12 per cent, and Henry Haruna Asante, PNC, 68, representing 0.11 per cent.
At the last held election 2016, Mr Agyarko of the NPP polled 32,591, representing 57.32 per cent, Delali Kwasi Brempong, NDC, 22,534, representing 39.63 per cent; William Dowokpor, PPP, had 1,099, representing 1.93 per cent; while Kweku Quansah of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) managed 638 votes, representing 1.12 per cent.
GNA
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