A former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Abuga Pele has been defeated in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) primary in the Chiana-Paga constituency in the Upper East Region.
Abuga Pele who is also the incumbent Member of Parliament for the constituency polled 4177 votes as against his closest contender Lawyer Rudolf Nsowine who polled 4337 votes. The other candidate, Mr Jonathan Nyaaba had 825 votes.
The voting exercise started in 58 polling stations at 7:00 am and ended around 5:00 pm.
About 13,602 delegates cast their votes in this primary.
Initially, some delegates earlier called for the creation of an extra polling station at the Kurugu electoral area, ahead of the primaries, to enable those commuting from long distance areas to cast their votes, which the executive complied with.
Why was primary postponed?
The primary delayed due to a protracted case against Abuga Pele.
His contenders were challenging his eligibility to contest the parliamentary primary while standing trial in the GYEEDA scandal for alleged malfeasance and misappropriation of funds.
I will retain Chiana Paga seat for NDC
Abuga Pele earlier stated that he is hopeful of retaining his candidature and will eventually retain the seat for the NDC in the 2016 election.
“Since 1996 up to date I have continuously won the Chiana-Paga constituency seat with increasing votes margin every election year defecting the myth that long serving MP’s record dwindling votes during elections”.
Mr. Pele added that, the developmental records of the NDC coupled with the instability in the NPP gives the NDC a competitive advantage over the NPP to winning the 2016 general election.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana