A leading communicator of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, has called on the party to undertake a thorough postmortem following its defeat in the Akwatia by-election.

The poll, held on 2 September 2025 after the death of sitting MP Ernest Kumi, saw the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, declared winner with 18,199 votes out of 33,819 valid ballots.

The NPP’s Solomon Kwame Asumadu finished second with 15,235 votes, while Owusu Patrick of the Liberal Progressive Party (LPP) secured 82. A total of 303 ballots were rejected.

Speaking on Channel One TV a day after the election, Dr Boakye-Danquah stressed the need for “an honest introspection” within the NPP to uncover the reasons behind the setback.

“I would ask our political party to do a postmortem — an honest introspection of what really went wrong during this by-election,” he said.

He also raised concerns about the party’s choice of candidate, pointing to Akwatia’s history of competitive internal primaries.

“Could we have looked at the 2016 primaries, where Ama Sey and a few others contested? Or the 2020 primaries, when Ernest Kumi only narrowly beat Ama Sey by about four votes? Even in 2024, Ernest Kumi emerged as a candidate.

"Why then, this time, did the party not field Ama Sey but rather a constituency treasurer as the candidate?” he asked.

Dr Boakye-Danquah argued that a frank review of these issues was crucial if the NPP hoped to reposition itself and improve its chances in the 2028 general elections.