NPP Wins Atiwa By-Election By 75%...But Drops 6,000 Votes

Kwasi Amoako-Attah     Related Stories   After weeks of intense politicking, hours of voting amidst accusations and counter-accusations of voter intimidation and violence, the New Patriotic Party’s Kwasi Amoako-Attah was declared MP-elect for the Atiwa Constituency of the Eastern Region when he polled 20,282 or 75% of valid votes at Tuesday's by-election. The ruling National Democratic Congress’ Emmanuel Atta Twum obtained 6,190 or 22.89% of the votes to place second, followed in third position by the New Vision Party’s George Apraku Padmore with 477 or 1.76% votes while the People’s National Convention’s Kasum Abdul-Karim came at the tail of the pack with 94 or 0.35% of votes. PeaceFM's Senior Reporters Yaw Obeng-Manu and Obeng Darko, and HelloFM'S Sampson Nyamekye who covered the by-elections say turn-out was rather on the low side. Voter turnout at the end of the day was 53.3%. The area has registered voters of 61,667 and 113 polling stations. Statistics indicates that total votes cast were 27,043 in the by-election. As many as 497 votes were rejected. According to our Correspondents, the by-election turned bloody somewhere around 4pm when a speeding Toyota Prado vehicle said to be occupied by a top politician allegedly smashed through a temporary wooden barricade injuring four persons in the process. Three of the activists are said to be in life threatening conditions. The NPP won the parliamentary seat in 2008 by 26,423 votes or 76.43% of valid votes, followed by the NDC with 7,851 or 22.71% while the PNC’s Abdul-Karim followed with 296 votes or 0.86%. Only three candidates contested at the time.       Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana