NPP still strong in Ashanti
The Ashanti Region, which is considered the political hotbed of the country, witnessed very peaceful elections but produced very thrilling statistics and features that excited the winners and left the losers with much to ponder about.
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As early as last year, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) promised to, garner at least one million out of the 2.8 million votes in the stronghold of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP); but when the chips came down, they had just managed half of their target.
When the votes from the over 5,000 polling stations were put together, the NDC secured 503,497 votes representing 23.06 per cent, while the NPP polled a whopping 1,647,402, which translate into 75.44 per cent of the total valid votes cast.
It is believed that the NDC made the one million its target based on their encouraging 2012 performance. In that year, President John Mahama had 612,616 votes, representing 28.35 per cent, while the NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had 1,531,152, representing 70.86 per cent.
Youngest/Oldest
Surprisingly, the youngest Member of Parliament (MP)-elect in the region, Miss Francisca Oteng Mensah, who made news after the primaries because of her age of 22 then, secured the highest votes among the 44 seats that the party had in the region.
Mr Kwabena Appiah Pinkrah, the MP-elect for Akrofuom, who is entering Parliament for the fourth term, is the oldest of the elected MPs in the region. He is 69 years old.
Lowest/Highest votes
Ms Mensah, who is a law student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), won her Kwabre East seat with 71,757 votes which was the highest votes secured by a single candidate in the region. The lowest number of votes in the region, was secured by the NDC’s Alex Adomako-Mensah for the Sekyere Afram Plains. He had 5,644 votes to win the seat.
Gender
The region also scored a point on the gender front. It increased its female representation from four MPs to five, all on the ticket of the NPP.
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They are Joyce Adwoa Akoh Dei, Bosome Freho; Patricia Appiagyei, Asokwa; Francisca Oteng Mensa, Kwabre East; Ama Ampomaa Boateng, Juaben; and Mavis Nkansah-Buadu, Effigya Sekyere East.
One million votes
The one million votes target was revised by Vice-President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur at the campaign launch in Kumasi who hiked it to 1.5 million because he said the government had done some unprecedented work in the region.
Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY), the only Independent Presidential candidate, had only two votes each in both Juaben, which had total valid votes of 29,214 and Manhyia South, which also had 41,904 valid votes.
His highest vote of 141 was recorded in Odotobri and in the final analysis, he secured 724 but was able to beat Dr Edward Mahama, who had 718 out of a total valid votes of 2,166,139.
Voter turnout was on the high side; 76.14 per cent, with Oforikrom witnessing 69.81, which is the lowest, and Obuasi East obtaining 84.30 per cent as the highest.
Seats
President Mahama in the heat of the electioneering promised that the party will increase its seats from four to nine aside from the one million target. Unfortunately, the only four they had out of the 47 seats in the region, were reduced to three.
Disturbingly, the seats were shared between only the NDC and the NPP as has been the case in previous elections.
Led by Alhaji Muhammed Muntaka, the MP-elect for Asawase, the other two seats for the NDC were, Muhammad Bawah Braimah for Ejura Sekyedumase and Alex Adomako-Mensah for Sekyere Afram Plains.
Prior to the polls, political pundits predicted that the NPP would lose the Adansi Asokwa seat because of how the primary in that constituency was conducted which left some of the candidates discontented.
Due to the problem, the NDC upped its game to ensure that they took advantage of the situation to ensure that their candidate, Evans Amankwah, became the winner.
During one of the NDC campaigns in the region, its General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, hinted that the party would take the seat and that of the incumbent NPP MP, K. T. Hammond, through the legal process to answer some questions about the Drill Ship.
The disagreement in the NPP led Richard Oduro Anokye of the NPP to contest Mr Hammond as an independent candidate.
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Mr Oduro did not prove much of a threat because he polled only 1,352 of the votes, while Mr Amankwah of the NDC secured 12,389. Fortunately, Mr Hammond got re-elected with 16,468 votes. A very close shave. Isn’t it?