A total of 41,168 registered voters are expected to cast their votes in 99 polling stations across the Assin North Constituency on Tuesday,27th June 2023.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has assured all stakeholders in the upcoming by-election that the electoral management body is adequately prepared to conduct the poll as mandated.
The Central Regional Director of the EC, Mrs Gladys Pinkrah, in an interview, said the EC regional directorate took delivery of the ballot papers, the Notice of Polls and the Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs).
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Charles Opoku, is number one on the ballot paper, with the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) candidate, Bernice Enyonam Sefenu, occupying the second position on the ballot and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, James Gyakye Quayson, is number three on the ballot paper.
The impending by-election in Assin North Constituency in the Central Region is expected to be fiercely contested with multiple political parties to be vying for the seat but the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress have the chance to win.
Parliamentary election results since 1996 shows that the NDC won the seat in 1996, 2012 and 2020 while the NPP also won the seat in the year 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016 respectively.
In the 2020 Parliamentary Election, the NDC won the seat with 17,498 votes while the NPP also polled 14,193 votes but the NPP won the Presidential Election in the Constituency with 16,067,compare to the NDC’s 15,014 votes.
Parliament has written to the Electoral Commission (EC) declaring the Assin North seat vacant on Monday, May 29.
Per the sources, the letter was based on the recent ruling and orders of the Supreme Court.
The apex court ordered Parliament to expunge James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records after it concluded that he failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the polls.
Presiding Judge Justice Jones Dotse on Wednesday, May 17, ruled that the Electoral Commission (EC) acted unconstitutionally in allowing him to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections without proof of him renouncing his Canadian citizenship.
Source:Mybrytfmonline/Mensah Atakora
