• Mr Kojo Asemanyi being interviewed by the media following his victory.

Kojo Asemanyi wins Gomoa East NPP rerun by six votes

Gilbert Agbey Politics Aug - 09 - 2015 , 22:24

A 35-year-old business and marketing executive, Mr Kojo Asemanyi, last Saturday won the New Patriotic Party (NPP) primary in the Gomoa East Constituency in the Central Region by six votes.

The keenly contested election was between Mr Asemanyi and his challenger, Apostle Dr Marqus Yaw Danso. He polled 205 votes to defeat his opponent, who secured 199 votes in an election which was generally peaceful.

However, there were pockets of misunderstanding during the conduct of the election but the police officers at the grounds were able to maintain order.

The primary, which was the last to be held in the region, was attended by regional executive members, including Mr Kwamena Duncan, the regional secretary, and Mr Thomas Adjei- Baffoe, the regional organiser.

Widely-held view

It is the view of the people that if all the 434 delegates had voted the winner would have gained more votes or the scales would have tilted in favour of the loser.

It will be recalled that it is the last constituency primary to be held in the Central Region for the 2016 elections.

Apostle Dr Danso and Mr Asemanyi each polled 153 votes in the first primary held on Saturday, June 13, 2015.

In the first election, three other candidates contested the primary. Messrs Samuel Aikins, Richard Panford and Mcjewels Annan polled 49, 29 and 26 votes respectively.

The battle line was, therefore , drawn between the two who intensified their campaign with a few days to the election to win the trust of the 434 eligible delegates, who were expected to exercise their franchise to elect a suitable candidate.

The two candidates developed strategies of meeting the potential delegates in their respective communities to convince them to vote for any of them to wrest the parliamentary seat from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Court action

After the first election, a party member, Mr Adolf Nfodwo, who is a supporter of Apostle Dr Marqus Yaw Danso, filed a suit at the Agona Swedru High Court against the Central Regional Electoral Officer of the NPP, the regional secretariat of the NPP and Kojo Asemanyi.

He prayed the court to declare his candidate as the validly elected parliamentary candidate for the constituency, citing some irregularities that occurred during the counting of the ballots.

He also prayed the court to direct the Central Regional NPP to declare Mr Marqus Danso as the validly elected candidate with 154 votes, while the third defendant, Mr Kojo Asemanyi should be put on record as having secured 153 votes.

The suit was thrown out of court by the judge, who asked the two factions to find an amicable solution to their feud, hence the date for the rerun was fixed as August 8, 2015.

Regional Secretary

Mr Kwamena Duncan commended the party delegates for the peaceful manner in which they conducted themselves throughout the voting.

He said that whoever won meant a victory for the party and that all the members of the party in the area must come together to win both the presidency and the parliamentary seat in the 2016 elections.

He called on the members to work hard towards victory in 2016 since it was only through hard work that the party could come back to power in 2016.

He called on the supporters of the candidates to come together and embark upon a vigorous campaign to enhance the fortunes of the party in next year’s elections.

Dr Danso

Apostle Danso conceded defeat and pledged to support the winner towards victory in the 2016 elections.

He called on members of the party to put the election behind them and forge ahead in unity towards wresting power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).