Forty-eight hours after National Democratic Congress’ James Gyakye Quayson won the Assin North seat by over 17, 000 votes, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) says sympathy may have played a role in his electoral victory.
Speaking to JoyNews, the General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frimpong, said the NDC’s candidate was also popular in the constituency having won the 2020 MP seat.
“In terms of reality and in terms of what happened at Assin North, I would concede that there was an element of sympathy that went to his win,” he said.
He added that another factor that led to Mr Gyakye Quayson’s win was the propaganda messages disseminated by the NDC.
According to Kodua Frimpong, the NPP on the other hand did not have enough time to market its candidate Charles Opoku, hence his defeat.
“As a party December right after the Kumawu by-election, we didn’t have enough time we had to go quickly to have our primaries to elect our candidate.
“And yes, Charles Opoku was elected within the shortest possible time…so against the timelines that played, we couldn’t get the time to market him well,” he explained.
This comes after James Gyakye Quayson the keenly contested Assin North constituency bye-election on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the party has congratulated the MP-elect for Assin North constituency, James Gyakye Quayson for his victory in the bye-election.
“The Party extends its warmest congratulations to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Member of Parliament-elect for the Assin North Constituency on their electoral victory,” a statement signed by the NPP’s General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong noted.
It added that “while we had diligently worked towards reclaiming the Assin North parliamentary seat, we respect the decision and judgment of the people of the Assin North Constituency.”
According to the party, the NDC’s victory in the bye-election adds to Ghana’s democratic credentials.
“Indeed, the recent two by-elections have demonstrated the strength of the country’s democracy with outcomes favouring different political parties. This is a testament to Ghana’s much-touted accolade as a bastion.”
In a related development, political scientist with the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampoh said the NPP had a wrong strategy going into the bye-election.
According to him, the discerning nature of the electorate at Assin North came to play at the just-ended bye-election.
Prof Gyampo noted that NPP seemed to have underestimated the voters’ capacity to interpret hidden meanings and intentions behind some strategies implemented.
He further elaborated that the residents comprehended the motives behind the sudden surge in developmental projects and the attempts at vote buying.
As a result, the lecturer believes they chose to “teach them [NPP] a lesson” by voting for the NDC candidate.
“The arrogant display of vote-buying; hurriedly going to construct roads, hurriedly going to commission new projects and then when you are quizzed, what you are told is that these were the projects that were already implemented and so it was already a programme that we were doing…” played a role in the decisions made by the residents.