Asokwa in search of Presiding Member

The election for a Presiding Member (PM) for the Asokwa Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region has for the fourth time ended in a stalemate after the two contestants failed to garner the required number of votes to take the position.

At the end of its fourth meeting to elect a PM yesterday, neither of the two candidates, Dr Kwabena Boadu and Nana Yaw Wiredu, obtained the required two-thirds vote to win the election.

Members of the assembly, who were hoping to have a new PM, left the venue of the meeting disappointed.

The assembly would have to file new candidates at its next meeting to vie for the position as those who stood for the election have become ineligible to stand again.

On April 23, 2020 when the assembly met, the assembly members failed in their attempt to elect a presiding member for the third time this year.

Votes

The assembly reconvened for the election of the presiding member on Thursday, April 23, 2020 following the Kumasi High Court ruling striking out an application for injunction by one of the losing candidates in the first election.

At the end of the two rounds of voting, Dr Boadu garnered 12 out of the 17 votes cast while Nana Yaw Wiredu polled five votes.

Dr Boadu was short of one vote to be declared the eventual winner.

The two have, thus, become ineligible to stand for the next election and the assembly would have to find new candidates.

In all, there were 17 members present, made up of 10 elected assembly members and seven government appointees, including the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Akwannuasah Gyimah.

Mr Oscar Riches, who sued the assembly and the Electoral Commission for disqualifying him from contesting the election, failed to turn up at the last two meetings of the assembly for the election of a PM.