Assin North By-Election: NDC's James Gyakye Quayson Beats NPP's Charles Opoku To Win Seat A Second Time

• Results from all 99 polling stations in Assin North put NDC James Quayson in pole position to be officially declared winner of the crucial parliamentary polls
• Provisional results show he garnered 17,205 of the total ballots cast, while his closest contender, NPP's Charles Opoku obtained 11, 398 votes
• The Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG)'s Bernice Enyonam Sefanu garnered only 85 votes, representing 0.28% of the total votes

Provisional results from the Assin North constituency by-election show that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate James Gyakye Quayson has secured enough votes to reclaim the seat.

YEN.com.gh's monitoring of election results from credible media houses and independent observers show that results from all the 99 polling stations show Quayson has beaten his closest contender, New Patriotic Party (NPP) 's Charles Opoku.

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The results show that James Gyakye Quayson secured 17,205 of the total ballots cast, representing 57.4% of the ballots, while NPP's Charles Opoku secured a total of 11, 398 votes, representing 42.05%.

The third candidate, the representative for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Bernice Enyonam Sefanu, garnered only 85 votes, representing 0.28% of the total votes.

EC-certified results confirm Quayson as winner of the polls

Also, the official results from the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) confirmed James Gyakye Quayson as the winner of the polls with 17,245 of the total valid votes cast.

His votes margin as compared to the 2020 results is over 1,300. In that election, Mr Gyakye Quayson polled 17,498 votes to beat NPP’s Abena Durowaa Mensah, who polled 14,193.

Certified results from the EC

Charles Opoku: 12, 630 - 42.15%

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Seƒenu Enyonam: 87 - 0.29%

Gyakye Quayson: 17, 245 - 57.56%

Registered voters: 40, 978

Turn Out: 30,418 - 74.23%

Rejected ballots: 456

Total Valid: 29, 952

Gyakye Quayson's 2020 parliamentary victory declared null and void by Supreme Court

In May this year, the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its list of recognised Members of Parliament.

The apex court ruled on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, that the man declared Assin North MP for the NDC in 2020 failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship before standing for public office.

The seven-member Supreme Court bench led by Justice Jones Dotse (now retired) determined that the election that declared Quayson winner in 2020 was null and void.

High Court to hear James Quayson's criminal case from July 4

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported previously that an Accra High court has said it will hear a criminal case of perjury, forgery and deceiving a public officer brought against Gyakye Quayson every day.

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The court said it will hear the case every day from July 4, 2023, to fast-track the process.

Despite the set back, the legal team of James Quayson said the ruling was acceptable because the July 4 date will allow the deposed MP to campaign ahead of the June 27 Assin North by-election.

Gyakye Quayson's criminal trial concerns the Attorney-General view that the deposed MP breached Ghana's criminal code when he filed to contest the Assin North parliamentary polls in 2020 while he was still a Canadian citizen.

Source: YEN.com.gh