Out of the 275 parliamentary seats contested for in 2016, 82 as against 83 in 2012 were won with margins below 10% across the 10 regions representing about 30% of the total number of seats.

There were interesting instances where these marginal wins were below 1 percent – Krachi East (0.9%), Zebilla (0.5%), Amasaman (0.4%), Salaga South (0.2%), and Pru West (0.2%)

These marginal wins were spread across the 10 regions with Central region and Brong Ahafo region topping with 13 constituencies each. The Western region, Greater Accra region, Northern region all had 12 constituencies being narrowly won; while the NPP had 52, the minority NDC had 30 out of the 82 seats.

Above is a table indicating all 82 marginally won seats and their respective regions and parties. Source: Electoral Commission, 2016

As expected, the four swing regions pulled the majority of seats – 50 of them with 13 in Brong Ahafo, 13 in Central, 12 in Greater Accra and 12 in Western region.

In the NPP’s stronghold (Ashanti and Eastern regions), there were 9 seats that were won marginally as against 2 in the NDC’s stronghold (Volta).

The performance of the NPP and the NDC in these 82 constituencies will be a crucial decider in the 2020 general elections for both the Parliamentary and Presidential polls.