Executive Director of Global Info Analytics, Mussa .K. Dankwah, has outlined major causes that led to the defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Assin North by-election.
The pollster prior to the election disclosed that, per their latest poll, the New Patriotic Party’s candidate Charles Opoku was leading by a slight margin.
During an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mussa Dankwah said sheer opulence exhibited by some of the NPP members, vote-buying amongst other factors led to the party’s defeat.
“It was a combination of many factors: the perception that they are persecuting James Gyakye Quayson, the fact that they left development projects in Kumawu [uncompleted], and they hurriedly came to Assin North and another factor was the sheer opulence and sprinkling of money in the constituency. It made some people very angry,” the pollster told sit-in host of Eyewitness News, Nii Larte Lartey, on Wednesday.
He further highlighted the reasons Charles Opoku lost the election and explained that majority of his demography didn’t vote especially strongholds of the NPP.
“James Gyakye won the people who were undecided, most of them, and Charles Opoku lost grounds to Quayson on the basis that his demography didn’t come out to vote, especially strongholds of NPP such as Kushea and Breku, where they were hoping to win, but they didn’t. These are the reasons James Gyakye Quayson outperformed,” he stated.
Mr. Quayson polled 17,245 votes representing 57.56%, while Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) received 12,630 votes, representing 42.15% after the by-election on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
The Liberal Party of Ghana’s (LPG) candidate, Sefenu Bernice Enyonam, garnered a paltry 87 votes, representing 0.29%.
The by-election became necessary after Gyakye Quayson was kicked out of Parliament for having dual citizenship prior to filing his forms to contest in the 2020 elections in the Assin North constituency.
