Persons aligned to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) dominated first day of the district assembly elections based on results declared by the Electoral Commission nationwide.
Candidates in district assembly elections aligned with or supportive of the NPP secured victories in approximately 47.2% of the electoral areas where polls were conducted.
In contrast, candidates affiliated with or sympathetic to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won in 45.4% of electoral areas.
Neutral candidates or those associated with other political parties accounted for 7.5% of the total elected Assembly Members.
A post-election survey conducted by the Civil Society Organization, Center for Decentralization Advocacy (CeDA), revealed that the NPP’s most significant performance was in its stronghold regions—the Ashanti Region and Eastern Region.
In the Ashanti Region, approximately 82.1% of NPP-affiliated candidates secured victories, while in the Eastern Region, 71.6% of pro-NPP candidates emerged triumphant.
The party faced challenges in the Volta Region, where only 2.7% of affiliated candidates claimed victory, as opposed to pro-NDC candidates, who secured wins in 97.1% of electoral areas.
In other regions, the majority of NPP candidates secured victories in Bono (60.6%), Ahafo (60.4%), North East (53.8%), Western (56.7%), and the Central Region (55.8%).
Surprisingly, the NPP also gained a marginal majority in the Northern Region, winning 47.3% of electoral areas compared to the NDC’s 46.1%.
On the other hand, NDC-affiliated candidates dominated in Bono East (68.1%), Greater Accra (49.8%), Oti (62.4%), Savannah (56.6%), Upper East (78.6%), West (67.2%), and Western North (47.6%).
The Electoral Commission organized district-level elections on Tuesday, December 19, 2023.
However, elections were suspended in certain areas, particularly in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions, citing ‘technical challenges.’
The affected regions, encompassing 770 electoral areas, are set to conduct elections on Thursday, December 21, 2023.
CeDA emphasized that the high percentage of political party affiliates winning suggests a need to reconsider the issue of elections at the local government level, indicating positive citizen responses when political parties are involved.
A pre-election survey by CeDA highlighted that close to 90% of candidates contesting were NPP and NDC affiliates.
Approximately 65% of the candidates were identified as actual political party functionaries at the electoral area level, including Electoral Area Coordinators, Polling Station Executives of the NPP, and Branch and Ward Executives of the NDC.
Out of 18,755 candidates, 8,846 were affiliated with the NPP, 8,474 were pro-NDC, and only 1,435 were neutral/independent or affiliated with other political parties.
