Ahead Of Election 2016... Who Wins Greater Accra

In terms of elections in Ghana, the Greater Accra Region is a pendulum and any political party that wins the region wins the national elections in the country. 

Apart from the 1992 parliamentary elections which was boycotted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the main opposition party, the NPP has since participated in all the subsequent elections held in the country with the last one in 2012.

In the 1996 general election, which saw all the registered political parties participated in it the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which enjoyed a monopoly in the previous 1992 elections, had a rude shock when they had to concede as many as eight seats in the region to the NPP.

The eight  constituencies that  the  NPP won in the 1996 general election were Ablekuma  Central,  Ablekuma North, Ablekuma South, Ayawaso Central, Ga North, Okaikoi North, Okaikoi South  and Tema West.

In the 2000 general election, the NPP came with a big bang to snatch as many as 15 seats, leaving miserly seven seats for the NDC to manage and the NDC went into opposition.

Additional seats

The additional seats the NPP brought into their fold in 2000 were Ashaiman, Ayawaso West Wuogon, Dade Kotopon, Klottey Korle, Krowor, Ledzokuku, and Odododiodoo in addition to the eight it already had.

 In the 2000 elections, the NDC suffered in the region because some of its worthy champions such as   Alfred Agbesi of Ashaiman contested the Ashaiman seat not on the ticket of the NDC but as an independent candidate following a misunderstanding he had with the party and its candidate for the Ashaiman constituency, Mr Franklin Aheto.

In the 2000  parliamentary election, Mr Agbesi polled 20,088 votes while Aheto got 12,607 votes.The NPP candidate, Mr Emmanuel Kinsford Kwesi Teye, with 21,894 votes,  snatched the Ashaiman seat from the NDC  for the first time..

 In the 2004 elections, the number of constituencies in the region increased from 22 to 27 and all the political parties were poised to benefit from the increase.

To the shock of the NPP, the NDC came from behind to increase its seats from seven in 2000 to 11 in 2004 with the NPP, the ruling party in 2004. Making only a seat gain in the region bringing its number of seats in the region to 16 as against 11 won by NDC.

Swing constituencies

In 2004, among the constituencies that came back to the NDC was the Ashaiman constituency where Alfred Kwame Agbesi contested on the ticket of the NDC.

He won the seat for the party when he polled 53,313 votes to beat his main contender, the incumbent NPP Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Emmanuel Kinsford Kwesi Teye, who polled 36,044 in a keenly contested election.

Domeabra--Obuom, which used to be part of Ga North Constituency and was held by the NPP in the 2000 elections went back to the NDC in 2004.

However, the NPP maintained Trobu/Amasaman, which Nee Aryeetey Altah won with a slim margin when he polled 31,459 votes against 31,017 by Atuquaye Armah of NDC.

In the 2004 elections, Ga South, which was divided into two constituencies, saw NDC holding on to the Madina /Abokobi seat, which Alhaji Adamu Sorogho won with 32,080 as against 30,330 votes garnered by  James Armah of the NPP in a hotly contested election. 

In the same 2004, NPP was able to cling to the newly created Adentan Constituency with Kojo Opare Hammond of the NPP polling 17,964 votes against 17,020 by Lt Col. J. K.  Davies of the NDC in a closely contested election.

Miracle for NDC

The 2008 election looked like a miracle for the NDC as seven seats swung fully in its favour as they won 18 seats in the region against NPP’s nine seats.

Among the constituencies which had to swing in NDC’s favour was Ablekuma Central where Mr Chaie Tetteh Theophilus did the unthinkable by snatching the seat from the NPP beating Robert Sabah of the NPP with 43,253 to 39,179 votes.

The others were Klottey Korle, Odododiodoo, Adentan, Amasaman, Dade Kotopon, Krowor, Ledzokuku and another traditional seat of the NPP,  Ablekuma South, where Fritz Baffour of the NDC whipped  Francis Kojo Smith of the NPP with 56,182 votes against 50,879.

The 2012 elections the number of seats in the region increased from 27 to 34 and the NDC captured two newly created constituencies bringing their number of seats in the region to 20 seats while NPP woke up from their slumber and snatched five of the newly created seats.

The five  NPP seats captured in the  region were Anyaa Sowuotum, Ablekuma West, Okaikoi Central, Trobu and Tema Central while NDC ‘s  two newly acquired constituencies were Botianor/Ngleshie Amanfrom and Ayawaso North.

This year is another election year and whether the NPP is staging a comeback to claim its seats that swung to NDC or not is yet to be seen and recorded for posterity.