Counting of ballots underway in Assin North by-election
Counting of ballots is underway to select the winner of Tuesday’s Parliamentary by-election in the Assin North Constituency.
The Electoral Commission officially closed the polls at 1700 hours for the sorting of the ballots to proceed at the polling stations.
Scores of party supporters have gathered to witness the counting process amidst heavy security presence.
The announcement of the provisional results is received with spontaneous jubilation by supporters of winner the polling station.
The polling centres have been cordoned off to ward off intruders and ensure smooth counting of the ballots.
Mr. Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is the first on the ballot paper, followed by Madam Enyonam Sefenu for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), and Mr James Gyakye Quayson, the deposed Member of Parliament, representing the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The election follows the Supreme Court’s declaration that the election of Mr Gyakye Quayson in December 2020, with his swearing-in as a Member of Parliament on January 2021, was unconstitutional, null, void, and of no legal effect.
This is because at the time of filing his nomination to with the Electoral Commission to contest the parliamentary election in 2020, he held a dual nationality as a Ghanaian and Canadian.
The voting process was generally peaceful. However, two persons were arrested for allegedgly interfering with the voting process.
Before the start of voting, EC officials together with the political party agents, thoroughly examined the electoral materials at each polling station and agreed on the position of the voting booth.
At the D/A JHS ‘B’ polling station, which has 439 voters on the register as confirmed by Mr Pinnock Amoo Tenkorang, the Electoral Officer in charge, the first person voted at 0702 hours.
At the Methodist Primary School ‘2’, 40 people voted as of 0740 hours, with others waiting patiently for their turn to exercise their franchise.
Agents for all the candidates, particularly the NPP and NDC were present at all centres.
The Candidate for LPG has four agents at the 13 polling stations in Assin-Bereku.
There is heavy security presence across the polling centres.
Some security officers were also positioned at strategic locations, particularly, road intersections to manage traffic.
Security has been beefed up to cover adjoining districts, such as Assin South, Assin Central in the Central Region, and Adansi South in the Ashanti Region.
The two major political parties – the governing NPP and NDC, at a security meeting on Monday, pledged to play their respective roles in ensuring peace before, during, and after the by-election.
In the 2020 presidential election, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo beat Mr. John Dramani Mahama by about 1000 votes in the Constituency, whilst Mr. Quayson, the NDC Candidate, beat the then incumbent NPP Candidate, Ms Abena Durowaa Mensah, by 3,305 votes.
In 2016, President Akufo-Addo beat Mr. Mahama by less 2,000 votes, whilst the NPP’s Abena Mensah snatched the parliamentary seat from the NDC incumbent, Samuel Ambre, beating him by 4,802 votes.
In 2012, then-President Mahama beat the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo by about 3,000 votes in the presidential election, whilst Samuel Ambre of the NDC beat the NPP’s Ebenezer Appiah-Kubi by 2,057 votes.
Before then, the NPP had held the seat.
Source: GNA