The Member of Parliament (MP) elect for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson has been sworn-in today, July 4, 2023 as the legislator for the constituency.
The swearing-in comes after his landslide victory in the recent by-election held on Tuesday, June 27.
Reports indicate that big-wigs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) including the former President, John Dramani Mahama, and the leadership of the party stormed Parliament to show support ahead of Mr. Quayson’s swearing-in ceremony.
The Minority Caucus were also clad in white garments during the ceremony in parliament.
It is recalled that the Assin North parliamentary seat became vacant following a Supreme Court directive on May 17 that Parliament should expunge Mr. James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records after years of legal battle challenging his legitimacy as the elected Member of Parliament for Assin North in the 2020 elections.
Following the declaration of the Assin North seat as vacant by Parliament on May 30, the Electoral Commission scheduled a by-election in the constituency for June 27 in which the NDC presented Mr. Quayson again.
Gyakye Quayson garnered 17,245 of the total valid votes cast representing 57.56 percent during Tuesday’s keenly contested by-election.
His closest challenger, Charles Opoku managed 12,630 votes representing 42.15 percent of the total votes cast, whilst Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) managed a paltry 87 votes (0.29%)
The total valid votes cast was 29,962 out of the 30,418 total votes cast for the day. A total of 456 votes were rejected.
With a voter turnout of 74.23%, the Electoral Commission officially declared Gyakye Quayson as the winner of the by-election.
The NPP had appeared the favourite going into the by-election, according to polls including those conducted by Global Info Analytics and pollster Ben Ephson. But the people of Assin North proved them wrong.
