{"id":272224,"date":"2016-11-28T13:30:29","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T13:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=272224"},"modified":"2016-11-28T13:30:29","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T13:30:29","slug":"npp-ndc-battle-for-sekondi-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/11\/npp-ndc-battle-for-sekondi-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"NPP, NDC battle for Sekondi seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), are battling to grab the Sekondi constituency in the Western Region in the December 7 general election.<\/p>\n
NPP has won the seat in five consecutive elections since 1996, with Papa Owusu-Ankomah, a former Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of State occupying the seat for the whole period.<\/p>\n
However, the governing NDC has vowed to snatch it in the 2016 December 7 polls.<\/p>\n
Analysts say it will be a difficult task for the NDC to win the seat, which is considered to be one of the strongholds of the NPP.<\/p>\n
Both parties have new candidates contesting the December polls, after long-serving MP, Papa Owusu Ankomah, opted not to contest again.<\/p>\n
He has been\u00a0replaced by another lawyer, Andrew Agyapa Merker, who the residents say is a \u2018home boy.\u2019<\/p>\n
The governing NDC is also presenting Emmanuel Assifuah, an employee at the Western Regional Lands Commission, also known to have some suport in the area.<\/p>\n
Papa Owusu-Ankomah won the seat narrowly in 2012 with 14,735 votes, to beat the NDC’s candidate, Anthony Richard Cudjoe, who obtained 13,644.<\/p>\n
But speaking to Citi FM\u2019s Samurais<\/strong> on constituency watch ahead of the December polls, the Sekondi Constituency Chairman of the NPP, Erasmus Baidoo Cudjoe, said the party will win the 2016 polls with a wider margin.<\/p>\n Samurais<\/strong> are Citi FM\u2019s<\/strong> pre-election monitory team in the Southern Sector of the country, looking at the issues that would decide the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n The other team, known as the Delta Squad<\/strong> covered the Northern part of the country.<\/p>\n