NPP and NDC
brace up for Akwatia election re-run
By Awudu Salami Sule,
Ghanadot
Accra, July 21, Ghanadot -
Even before date will be set by
the Electoral Commission (EC) for the re-run of an election
in six polling stations at the Akwatia constituency in the
Eastern Region, the two leading political parties in the
country, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) are lasing their political boots
to fight for the only seat in the country yet to get a
Member of Parliament.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of the Electoral
Commission and called for the election to be held in only
six polling stations instead of the whole constituency, as
petitioned by the NDC Parliamentary Candidate, Baba Jamal
and two other independent candidates.
The six polling stations were characterised
by electoral fraud as well as
reported cases of ballot box snatching.
In an interview with Ghanadot, Dr Kofi Asare, the
Parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party promised
to win the seat for the party. He said with only six polling
station remaining, he stands certain
to win the seat.
He revealed that even before the Electoral Commission would
come out with a date for the election, he and his team were
on the ground canvassing for votes and victory is certain.
"Akwatia constituency is already a strong hold for the NPP
and we are going to prove it to the world" he noted.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Organiser of the National
Democratic Congress, Mr Tawiah Boateng was also hopeful that
his party would win the seat.
He said in interview that the NDC's parliamentary candidate,
Mr Baba Jamal has achieved a lot for the constituency and
there is no way the NPP would retained the seat.
Though he conceaded that the NPP was slightly head, he
promise to over-turn it.
He said the NDC would give NPP the same dosage it gave to it
during the run-off election at the Akwatia constituency.
"In the December 7 general elections, Nana Akufo Addo, the
Presidential candidate of NPP had almost 49% and Prof Mills
had 47%.
But the NDC manage to over-turn the votes in its favour in
the run-off election and Mills had over 50 per cent of the
vote cast while Nana Addo remained in his 49 per centage
mark.That is exactly what will happen at Akwatia", he said.
Meanwhile, the Mr Ben Ephson, a pollster and editor of the
Daily Dispatch newspaper has predicted a win for the New
Patriotic Party.
He said, apart from the six polling station that were
characterised by violence, the NPP took the lead in the
remaining polling station counted by the EC.
"The New Patriotic Party parliamentary candidate was leading
with over 3000 votes and with only six polling stations
left, the NDC can not pull any surprise", Mr Ben Ephson
noted in the Friday edition of the Daily Dispatch.
Ghanadot
