#Ballotwatch: The four MPs who won by less than 50 votes in 2016

Theghanareport.com as part of its election coverage brings you four constituencies where the winner won by less than 50 votes in the 2016 parliamentary elections.

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The returning officer of the Electoral Commission stood above carefully arranged ballot papers in the Tain constituency in the Bono region.

Around him, a tense group of rival party supporters are encamped and watch him count the thumbs that voted.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…forty-one votes.

That is all it took for the NPP candidate, Gabriel Osei to snatch the seat from Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu of the NDC.

The incumbent had lost. Only four years before this, in the 2012 elections, he had won by more than 4,000 votes.

So what other constituencies had tight races in the 2016 parliamentary elections and what portends for the 2020 version?

First off, the three other constituencies are Pru West in Bono East region, Salaga South in the Savanna region and Krachi East in Oti region.

 

1. TAIN (BONO REGION)
Carved out of the Wenchi West Constituency, it was one of the constituencies created in 2004. But its claim to fame came in 2008 in the second round of the elections when Nana Akufo-Addo and J.E.A Mills failed to win the elections in the first round.

Tain Constituency were unable to vote during the run-off elections on December 28, 2008, because the Electoral Commission (EC) was unable to send election materials to the area on time. They, therefore, voted on January 2, 2009.

Over the years, Tain has become notorious for not giving its MPs a second chance. In the last 16 years, it has changed MPs four times.

The year 2016 produced the slimmest margin for the parliamentary race in the history of the constituency – 41 votes.

Candidate/Party	Result
Gabriel Osei (NPP) Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu (NDC Jones Tannor (NDP)	14,569 (45.66%) 14,528   (45.54%) 2,477      (7.76%)

 

In 2004, the NPP’s Joe Danquah won against the NDC’s Ahmed Ibrahim with a 918-votes margin. Mr Ibrahim got his revenge four years later, with a vote difference of 2,917 in 2008. In 2012, the NDC retained the seat but with Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu as its candidate. He beat Joseph Ofori Manfo with 4,368 votes in the swing constituency.

On December 7, the incumbent, NPP’s Gabriel Osei, faces NDC’s Ramzy Adams, a fresh face in the constituency’s parliamentary race.

PREDICTION: 50-50

2. PRU WEST (BONO EAST REGION)
Forty-two votes separated the victor and the vanquished in this Bono East Constituency in the 2016 elections. While the NDC’s Alhaji Masawud Mohammed garnered 10,740 votes to win, his NPP opponent,  Stephen Pambiin Jalulah got 10,698  in the tightest race in the history of the eight-year-old constituency.

Both candidates first met in the newly created constituency in the 2012 elections where Alhaji Mohammed beat his contender by 1,187 votes.

Barring any unforeseen circumstance, the incumbent Alhaji Mohammed will seek re-election and will meet his old-time rival Mr Jalulah for the third time on December 7.

PREDICTION: NPP likely to win

3. SALAGA SOUTH (SAVANNAH REGION)

Voters in this Savannah Region constituency tossed out the incumbent MP, Ibrahim Dey Abubakr with just 47 votes. They replaced the man who started as an independent parliamentary candidate in 2004 with Salifu Adam Brimah.

Alhaji Abubakr won the 2012 elections with a little over 2,000 votes. But Alhaji Abubakr first snatched the seat in 2008 from his rival Boniface Abubakar Saddique of the NPP who first won the seat in 2000 as an independent candidate, beating the then NDC incumbent, Hamid Braimah with about 1,900 votes.

On December 7, Salifu Adam Braimah, who is also the Savannah Region regional minister, is seeking re-election against the constituency’s first female contestant—Hajia Zuwera Ibrahimah.

PREDICTION: NPP likely to win

4. KRACHI EAST (OTI REGION)

Apart from the Nkwanta North Constituency, Krachi East is the only other constituency in the Oti Region to have given the NPP a parliamentary seat.

Created in 2004, the Krachi East Constituency has been an NDC stronghold for 16 years after it was carved out of the then Krachi Constituency.

In 2016, Wisdom Gidisu, the Krachi East ‘Mugabe’ was unseated by Michael Gyato with just 47 votes. Interestingly, Mr. Gidisu won the 2012 elections with a little over 3,000 votes as he whipped Patrick Charty Jilimah.

In 2008, Mr. Gidisu was a victor in the race in which his margin of victory was 4,087 votes against Mr Jilimaah. In 2004, it was even wider—8,451—against the NPP’s John Gyamfi.

In 2020, Mr. Gidisu will again come face to face with the man who denied him a fourth term in Parliament.

PREDICTION: NDC likely to win

Theghanareport will bring our readers a series of data-centered reports on the 2020 general elections.  Stay tuned.