The Assin- North by election scheduled for today, June 27,2023 which had closely contested race between the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Nonetheless, the final results of the poll, published on June 22 2023, indicated that the NPP was slightly ahead of the NDC by 1.1%. While there was still a significant portion of undecided voters accounting for 6.9% of the respondents.
James Gyakye Quayson, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Assin North by-election has emerged victorious in Tuesday’s polls.
James Gyakye Quayson represented the NDC
Charles Opoku represented the NPP
Bernice Enyonam Sefenu also represented LPG
The breakdown of the by-election is as follows
The NPP was able to gather 155 votes and 227 votes gathered by the NDC in Breku A. In Station B, NDC again won by acquiring 204 votes and NPP had 164 votes. At Endwa Community( Centre B), NPP gave NDC a huge gab by acquiring 166votes and NDC 91votes.
Donkokurom also saw to 553 registered voters with total votes cast 397, total valid votes 389 and total rejected votes 8. NDC this time gave NPP a serious gab by acquiring 342 votes with NPP gaining 48 votes and LPG gathering 1vote.
At Methodist Primary B, Joe Quayson of the NDC swept 144 votes, Charles Opoku had 172 votes and 6 votes were rejected.
Also at D/A Primary School Assuoankomaso, Mr. Charles Opoku (NPP) had 32 votes, Miss Sefenu Enyonam (LPG) had 1 vote and Honourable James Quayson (NDC) swept 120 votes.
The NDC gathered 169 votes, NPP also 77, LPG 1 and 4 rejected votes at Assin- Tatre Nkwanta.
Provisional results from Assin- Breku D/A school B also indicated 569votes for Mr. James Quayson and 83 for Mr. Opoku. The NPP was able to gain 58 votes as NDC gained 113 votes at Tweanka Primary School. Results of Aniakragya DC Primary -Assin North Madam Eunice had 2 votes, Mr. Charles had 64 votes and Gyakye Quayson had 88 votes.
Subinso D/A Primary School also recorded 282 registered votes and valid votes cast of 223. The NPP had 86, NDC had 136 and 1 spoilt ballot.
Cocoa Shed Ntenkyeme polling station also made 63 votes for the NDC and 37 votes for the NPP.
The overall votes polled by Mr. Charles Opoku was 12630 votes at the Assin- North by election. Madam Eunice Sefenu Enyonam also polled 87 total votes. James Gyakye Quayson of the NDC polled 17,243 votes. Hence total votes cast was 30418 with total valid votes cast as 29962 and 456 total rejected votes. From the results, Honourable James Gyakye Quayson has been declared winner and new Member of Parliament for Assin- North. Though the by-election had some hitches, it was overall a successful one. The Assin North seat became vacant after the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records in a ruling on May 17. The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Quayson was not qualified to contest the 2020 parliamentary election in the Assin North Constituency at the time he filed his nomination forms on October 9, 2020. It found that Mr. Quayson had not shown evidence of renouncing his Canadian citizenship and that the Electoral Commission had granted him permission to contest the election without this evidence. The Court further ruled that Mr. Quayson’s election as Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency was unconstitutional. The 7-member judge panel in a unanimous ruling stated that “the qualification of holding only Ghanaian citizenship must be present at the time of nomination, and not any date thereafter.” A criminal case immediately commenced against him after he was kicked out of Parliament and is currently facing charges of perjury and forgery. The NDC fielded Gyakye Quayson in the by-election in what the party said was to correct an injustice. A day before the poll, Mr. Quayson said he was confident of winning emphasizing that his good works for the people of Assin North will propel him ahead of his competitors
