A fellow at the Center for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD-Ghana), Dr John Osae-Kwapong says both the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have a lot to gain or lose depending on the outcome of the Assin North by-election.

This, according to Dr Osae-Kwapong, is due to the campaign messages the two parties can spin out following a victory or defeat.

“If really this is a question of a referendum on the party’s (NPP) vulnerability and strength then I am sure that when they win this seat, they will jump on it and use that to infer to other campaigns and say ‘look, we are not as unpopular as you think, we are not as vulnerable as you may think.'

"But if they lose then the opposite becomes true and their opponent (NDC) may jump on it and say the referendum on your party has been really reflected in this competitive competition and you are really vulnerable in Assin North and the people have shown that they are displeased with your governance and the people have shown that they stand against injustice.”

Speaking on the AM Show on the JoyNews channel, the CDD-Ghana fellow further explained that, the verdict of the people in the election tomorrow will influence the way forward for the two parties going into the 2024 elections.

“I think from the NDC’s side a win for them will be seen as a vindication that their message that an injustice is being done to Mr James Quayson and, therefore, that injustice should be corrected triumphs at the end of the day and that message really resonated with the people and they really saw it as something unfair being done to them and they were not ready to stand for that unfairness.

"Another benefit for them (NDC) is that they still get to have an equal number of seats because I think that the NPP edges them by one and we still come back to the Parliament that we had in the beginning of 2021, post-2020 elections. So they still maintain their parliamentary strength.

"A loss for them (NDC) may be a little demoralizing but I just don’t know how long that demoralizing effect will last.

"For the NPP, if they are able to edge out their opponent then they have that one or two-seat power in terms of Parliamentary strength.

"So I think it will be interesting to watch both the outcomes and how both parties end up spinning the outcome whether they win or lose,” he stressed.

Background

A by-election in Assin North has become necessary after parliament wrote to the Electoral Commission declaring the seat vacant.

This followed a Supreme Court ruling that the Electoral Commission acted unconstitutionally in allowing Mr Quayson to contest the 2020 parliamentary election without proof of him renouncing his Canadian Citizenship.

The apex court in its ruling ordered parliament to expunge James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records as a Member of Parliament. It further declared that his election was unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect. His swearing-in was equally declared to be unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, the NDC is backing Mr Quayson to stand again as their candidate in the by-election.

The NPP in Assin North also voted for Charles Opoku to lead them into the by-election.

The election is expected to come off on Tuesday, June 27.