The Eight Parliament of the Fourth Republic is heading towards a hung after the declaration of the results by the Electoral Commission following the December 7 general elections.
It will be the first time in the political history of the country that such a scenario is playing out in the 275 member legislature, especially since the Fourth Republic commenced under the 1992 Constitution.
A hung parliament is a legislature in which no political party has enough seats to secure an overall majority.
Currently, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a slight advantage with 137 seats over the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who are getting 134.
There is already an Independent MP-elect from Fomena Constituency in the Ashanti Region who had come out of the NPP to contest after a disagreement.
There are also three outstanding constituencies yet to be declared by the EC.
They are Upper Denkyira West in the Central Region, Sene West in the Bono East Region and Savelegu in the Northern Region.
Per the rules, the party that obtains majority has the mandate to select the next Speaker of Parliament.
According data tracked by DAILY GUIDE, Western Region with 17 seats produced nine seats for the NPP and eight seats for the NDC.
In Central Region with 23 seats, the NPP got 10 seats against the NDC’s 12 while in the Greater Accra Region with 34, the NPP had 14 and the NDC got 20.
Volta Region with 18 seats, the NDC had 17 against the NPP’s one seat, NDC got all eight Oti Region seats whilst Eastern Region with 33 seats, the NPP got 25 against the NDC’s eight.
In the Ashanti Region with 47 seats, the NPP had 42 seats against the NDC’s four while in the Western North Region with nine seats, the NPP got three as against the NDC’s six.
Ahafo Region had six seats and the NPP got four against the NDC’s two, while in the Bono Region with 12 seats, the NPP and the NDC split the seats, six (6) each.
In Bono East with 11 seats, the NPP got three with the NDC’s seven whilst in Savannah with seven seats, the NPP got three as against the NDC’s four.
In the Northern Region where there are 18 seats, the NPP got nine seats as against eight by the NDC whilst in the North East Region where there are six seats, the NPP got four against the NDC’s two seats.
The Upper East Region there are 15 seats and the NPP got only one with the rest of the 14 going to the NDC whilst in the Upper West Region where there are 11 seats, the NPP got three as against the NDC’s eight.
Fomena Factor
There seems to be a ‘mad’ rush for the MP-elect for Fomena, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the NPP MP for the area until he went independent recently, by the NPP and NDC who are trying to ‘poach’ him.
The party’s rule says that once a member decides to contest as independent candidate he/she cease to be a member of the party and the NPP activates that clause to remove him/her from Parliament close to Election Day.
The MP has suddenly become a ‘hot cake’ after the election results showed that both parties might need him to decide on who selects the Speaker of Parliament.
Reports indicated that the NPP and NDC are desperate to lure the Fomena MP to their side so that they could get the majority in Parliament.
First Move
According to unconfirmed reports, the NDC, having realised that they could not win majority in Parliament, are said to be the first to approach the Fomena MP to join them.
Sources said the NDC delegation tabled a mouthwatering offer to land the most sought-after MP in the country currently to their camp, but unfortunately their ‘juicy’ offer was flatly rejected.
According to sources, Amoako Asiamah, who is a legal practitioner, still loves the NPP, a political party he had joined all his lifetime until he was harshly axed.
Other reports said the NPP have also tabled an offer to help reunite with the Lawmaker, who made his maiden appearance in the august House on January 7, 2017 on NPP ticket.
The exact offer of the NPP to bring back the ‘prodigal son’ was not immediately revealed to the DAILY GUIDE, but reports said it was very sumptuous.
Even though it is unconfirmed for now, the reports said the NPP were prepared to foot the entire bills of Amoako Asiamah’s political campaign towards winning the seat in order to help lessen his financial burden.
Other reports, also unconfirmed, indicated that the NPP, who have successfully retained political power, were ready to give a ministerial appointment to appease Amoako Asiamah.
Significantly, even though the Fomena Lawmaker was yet to make his final decision known, close sources said it was likely that he would pitch camp with his beloved NPP to control Parliament.