NPP supporters
There is an uneasy tension building up in the Gomoa East Constituency wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) over alleged attempts to impose a parliamentary candidate on the party, Today has gathered.
According to sources, within the party in the area, there has been an uneasy calm within the constituency ever since they had their primaries over the weekend which resulted in a tie between businessman, Marcus Yaw Danso, and Marketing Executive, Kojo Asemanyi, who both polled 153 votes each.
In an exclusive interview with some delegates who poured out their displeasure to this reporter on condition of anonymity, they intimated that they will resist all attempts to impose an unfavourable candidate on them.
They accused the Central regional executives of the party of conniving with the Electoral Commission (EC) to dubiously declare Marcus Yaw Danso, the winner of the elections, even though the poll ended in a tie.
The delegates noted that they have tried effortlessly in the past elections to snatch the seat back from the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) of the area, Ekow Panyin Okyere Eduamoah, but to no avail because of the unfavourable candidates they have been presenting and will resist any attempts by the executives to impose a candidate on them because they are tired of staying in opposition.
They pointed out the need for the leadership of the party in the region to allow the constitution of the party to work by setting a date for another election between the two who tied, rather than trying to force them to accept their preferred candidate.
“We are ready to accept the outcome of the elections and will work with whoever wins but until then, we will not allow our executives to dictate to us,” they fumed.
Today’s investigations in the constituency revealed that after the EC had counted the ballot on the day of the primaries, Marcus Yaw Danso initially had 154 votes while Kojo Asemanyi had 152, but Asemanyi’s agents at the voting centre called for a recount which saw him poll 153 and Marcus also getting 153 because one of his ballots was thumb-printed twice thus nullifying it.
The tie, the paper learnt, reportedly sent the delegates jubilating indicating that they were not happy with the initial result.
Meanwhile, Asemanyi has threatened to take legal action should the executive carry on with their decision to “unconstitutionally” declare Danso winner of the elections.
