Ayawaso West Wuogon to elect new MP today
Voters in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency will finally head to the polls today, Thursday, to elect a new Member of Parliament, over two months since the death of their former representative, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko.
Contesting the seat for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the spouse of the late MP, while Delali Kwasi Brempong of the NDC will be hoping to capture a seat that the NPP has held since 2000.
Also in the race are William Dowokpor of the Progressive People’s Party, (PPP) and Clement Boadi of the Liberal Party of Ghana.
Lawsuit
The by-election is being held despite a lawsuit filed at the Supreme Court by the NDC Constituency Chairman against the Electoral Commission challenging the January 31, 2018 date set for the by-election.
According to the suit, which has the EC and the Attorney General as defendants, the 31st January 2019 date exceeds the 60-day period within which by-elections to be held after the demise of a sitting MP by the Constitution.
The complainant is seeking “a declaration that the decision of the 2nd defendant to conduct and supervise the bye-elections in Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency on January 31, 2019, and not before or on January 26, 2019, is inconsistent with and in contravention of Article 112 (5) of the Constitution, and is therefore null and void and of no effect,” Bismark said in his suit.
Article 112 (5) of the constitution states that “Whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk to Parliament shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days after becoming aware that the vacancy has occurred; and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred, except that where the vacancy occurred through the death of a member, the by-election shall be within sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy.”
He had thus wanted the court to order the EC to organize the by-election before or by January 26, 2019.
“An order of this Honourable Court directed at the 2nd defendant to conduct and supervise the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency bye-election not later than the 26th of January 2019 , in consonance with the mandatory constitutional time frame.”
The main contenders
Lydia Alhassan also filed her nomination earlier in January to contest for the NPP after she emerged victorious in the party’s primary, securing 441 votes out of 672 total ballots cast.
Ahead of the election, Reverend Edward Agyekum Kufuor, son of former president John Kufuor, dropped out of the NPP’s primaries out of respect for the late MP and his widow.
He said he stepped down because he was uncomfortable contending with Lydia Alhassan in the same race.
Following the primary, Lydia Alhassan dedicated the victory to her late husband, and appealed to members of the party in the constituency to work together with her.
“Let us all put ourselves together and go out there and face Delali Brempong. We have done this before and we can do this again. We are retaining this seat together. We are doing this together. Delali, be ready, 31st January we are coming at you. We are retaining this seat.”
The NDC’s Delali Brempong also submitted his nomination form to contest the election received the green light from the Electoral Commission.
He has stated that he does not believe that Lydia Alhassan, will pose a threat to his chances of claiming the seat.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Brempong said despite the NPP’s dominance in recent elections in the constituency, Lydia Alhassan, who is the spouse of the late MP, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko, does not stand a chance against him in the poll.
When asked by the host of the show, Umaru Sanda Amadu whether he considered her a formidable opponent, Mr Brempong responded: “not at all.”
“She’s an entirely new candidate with her own characteristics. There’s no basis of comparing her with somebody that has already bagged over 20, 000 votes,” referencing his 22,534 votes in the 2016 elections.
Frustrations and denials
The NDC has already expressed its disappointment with the way the EC is handling the upcoming Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.
The opposition party has also criticised the leadership of the EC Chairperson Jean Mensa, saying she may jeopardize the credibility of the election.
The NDC claims the EC has not provided a credible register for the by-election which is slated for slated for Thursday, January 31, 2019.
The EC said it will use the 2016 voters’ register to conduct the election and denied that the register was bloated.
The NDC earlier petitioned the EC to provide it with a credible voters’ register ahead of the poll.
Fake Ballots?
The EC has asked the general public to ignore images circulating on social media purported to be ballot papers for the by-election.
It said in a statement that these widespread ‘fake’ ballots have been designed by some” mischievous members of society who have planned to spread fake news and videos in order to create fear and panic and cause disaffection for the Electoral Commission”.
According to the EC, no individual should pay attention to the ballots as they bear the Charlotte Osei logo it dumped at the latter part of 2018.
“The purported images are fake and should be disregarded by well-meaning Ghanaians. The so called ’ballots’ bear the old logo of the Commission which was discarded by the Commission last year. The new logo, which is on the surface of the authentic ballots, bears the Coat of Arms of the State, an eagle, a ballot box and a hand casting its vote. The alleged logo displayed on the ballots in the photos being circulated is not the logo of the Electoral Commission”,
“The Electoral Commission remains committed to conducting credible, transparent and fair elections that will uphold the sovereign will of the people”, the EC concluded.
Ahead of today’s polls the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), has also deployed a total of 30 observers to observe randomly selected polling stations across the various electoral areas in the constituency.
Meanwhile, the police have said they will ensure a peaceful election.
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Source: citinewsroom