On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, James Gyakye Quayson was sworn in formally as the Member of Parliament for Assin North following his landslide victory in the by-election.
After the Supreme Court ruled on May 17, 2023, that Quayson had been wrongfully elected and must be disqualified from holding the office of MP, he was re-elected in the subsequent by-election conducted recently.
He defeated Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) to reclaim the seat. The difference between his votes and the results in 2020 is greater than 1,300. Mr Gyakye Quayson won that election with 17,498 votes, defeating his opponent, Abena Durowaa Mensah of the NPP, who received 14,193 votes.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Director of IT, Eric Ntori speaking at the collation centre to Joy News said the NPP has lost it and that the party will do its homework.
“Things didn’t go well for us,” he said and added the party will go back to the drawing board and come back in 2024 and “snatch” the seat back for the NPP.
Background
Prof. Dominic Fobih and Kennedy Ohene Agyapong occupied the south and north seats for the NPP for three consecutive terms beginning in 2001.
The Electoral Commission carved out the Assin Central constituency in 2012, and Kennedy Agyapong’s district became Assin Central.
Samuel Ambre gained the Assin North seat for the NDC in 2012.
In 2016, the NPP, led by Abena Durowaa Mensah, stole the presidency from the NDC.
In 2020, James Gyakye Quayson defeated the incumbent Abena Durowaa Mensah to reclaim the seat for the NDC.
Previously, Quayson held dual citizenship with Canada and Ghana.
Prior to the 2020 parliamentary election in the region, he filed an application to renounce his Canadian citizenship but had not yet received the renunciation certificate at the time he filed to run.
