The Mayor of Cape Coast, Mr Ernest Arthur, has been elected to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 Parliamentary elections in Cape Coast South.

He garnered 290 votes in the closely contested polls on Saturday, to beat Theodora Sarah Afful, the Central Regional Director of the Youth Employment Agency, and Mr James Brew-Wartemberg, who polled 279 and nine votes respectively.

This means the Mayor will battle it out with the three-term Member of Parliament, George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The election recorded 579 votes out of which one was rejected.

There was spontaneous jubilation from supporters of the Mayor even before counting ended, from outside of the Adisadel College Park, where the polls were held.

The exercise was generally peaceful under heavy security presence.

Mr Arthur, after his election, called for unity and peace among all supporters to enable the party to capture the seat in 2024.

He said the results which was almost a split between Madam Afful and himself, was a clear indication of some division among the supporters and pledged to bring them together.

He urged his supporters to be calm and moderate in their jubilation to ensure unity ahead of the major contest next year.

Madam Afful, despite losing the contest, said she was impressed with her performance.

She commended the delegates for their support and rallied all supporters of the various candidates to work together to win the seat.

“After every contest, there is a compromise. So, I will speak to my followers and together, we will work for the betterment of the party,” she pledged.

Madam Caroline Ewusi, the Cape Coast South Chairperson of the NPP, invited all party supporters to work collaboratively towards success in Election 2024.

She was hopeful the NPP would emerge victorious at the end of the parliamentary polls in 2024, campaign for which she said should be issues-based to showcase the Party’s performances within the period of its administration.