The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Abuakwa North, Gifty Twum Ampofo, has secured a comfortable victory in the constituency by-elections held today.
Her widely expected triumph came over challengers, Samuel Frimpong of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) and the United People’s Party’s Isaac Kwarteng.
Mrs Twum Ampofo polled 10,033 votes representing 89.60% the total votes cast.
Samuel Frimpong and Isaac Kwartey’s 263 votes (2.35%) and 901 votes (8.05%) respectively.
There are 40,068 registered voters in the constituency but only 11, 307 constituents turned out to vote, representing a 28.22% turnout.
This by-election became necessary because of the death of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for the area, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, last month.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) pulled out of this by-election on sympathy grounds given the circumstance of the death of the late JB Danquah who was murdered at his Shaishie residence
It however emerged later that their Parliamentary nominee, Anthony Osei Gyimah, was not a registered voter in the constituency.
Abuakwa Parliamentary results
The Abuakwa North seat has largely been an NPP seat since the constituency’s creation in 2004.
In the last election in 2012, the late MP beat the NDC’s Victor Smith with about 6,000 votes. But the NDC’s result in 2012, was an improvement from the past, considering that in 2004, the NPP won the seat by 16, 000 votes as against 7,000 votes for the NDC.
Analysis
Gifty Twum Ampofo will legally be an MP for less than 8-months since the tenure of the current Parliament will expire after the presidential and parliamentary elections in November this year.
The NDC already has a parliamentary candidate for the main election in November, and thus have not lost much by pulling out of the race considering the seat was already held by the NPP
The party may instead, save some money and time, and focus its resources on preparations for the main election in November.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana