The candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Baba Jamal, has been declared the winner of the just-ended Ayawaso East by-election.
This was announced by the Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday evening. He secured 10,884 votes representing 63 per cent to win the contest.
His closest contender, Baba Ali Yusif, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, garnered 4,009 representing 23 per cent.
A total of 16,928 valid votes were cast, with 120 rejected ballots, bringing the total votes cast to 17,048.
Interestingly, this is not what was forecasted at least by pollster, Mussa Dankwah’s Global Infoanalytics, which predicted a massive win for the former Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria.
According to the projections, the NDC candidate was commanding 75 per cent of the expected vote, while Baba Ali will trail with 21 per cent. Independent contender Umaru Sanda Muhammed, who recently parted ways with the NDC, was projected to secure about 3 per cent.
The firm’s earlier prediction for the NDC’s parliamentary primary also failed. It predicted a win for the wife of the late MP but at the end of voting and counting, she lost. Dankwah blamed the defeat to heavy inducement by Baba Jamal. Before this, Dankwah’s predictions had mostly been straight to the point.
Regardless, supporters of Baba Jamal erupted in jubilant celebrations across the constituency following the official declaration.
The by-election, held to fill the vacancy left by the death of the late MP Naser Toure Mahama in January, saw voters across numerous polling stations head to the polls on Tuesday, March 3.
Four other candidates were on the ballot, comprising Baba Ali Yussif of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ibrahim Iddrisu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), and two independent contenders, Alhaji Mohammed Umaru Sanda and David Kanor.
The election, held on March 3, was incident-free probably due to the huge Police presence.
Stalwarts of the main political parties- New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC). Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, former NDC Chairman, Linda Akweley Ocloo, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Tanko Computer, Director of Elections of NDC among others, were seen supervision the poll.
From the NPP side, former Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko and former Fisheries Minister, Hawa Koomson were at some polling centres.
With this victory, Baba Jamal is expected to be sworn in by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, at the next sitting of the House.
The day was marked by lower-than-expected turnout in the early hours, with observers noting that Ramadan fasting may have contributed to some voters arriving later in the day.
Security was a prominent feature of the Election Day arrangements.
In the run-up to voting, the Ghana Police Service assured the public that comprehensive measures were in place to maintain peace before, during, and after polling, with personnel deployed at all designated stations and key locations in the constituency.
Throughout the day, police officials described the environment at polling centres as calm and orderly and emphasised that the security presence was sufficient to handle “any eventuality” as counting and collation got underway.
The IGP also visited some areas as the polls closed. He is expected to be sworn in by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.
By Gifty Boateng