Hassan Tampuli and Mohammed Amin Adam
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) had an impressive performance in the Northern Region in the 2020 general election with nine parliamentary seats.
The NPP split the 18 parliamentary seats with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and increased votes for President Akufo-Addo in the presidential election.
Even though the main opposition party is still sulking its defeat as it refuses to concede following the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, analysis from collated pink sheets indicates that in some of the constituencies, the NPP won both presidential and parliamentary elections, boosting the party’s victory chances.
The NPP has improved on its performance from two seats in the old Northern Region to nine seats in present time.
The NDC dominance in the region has been neutralized with winning of Karaga, Gushegu, Mion, Tolon, Naton among other seats, splitting the region equally.
The ruling party’s performance in Gushegu and Karaga has caught the attention of analysts, having stretched the NDC in both the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Chief Exceutive officer of National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Hassan Tampuli secured the Gushegu seat with 30,373 against the NDC’s 28,059.
NPA boss who entered the race with just five months to election was able to stretch the NDC.
He did not only win the parliamentary seat, but also boosted the President’s win with 31,021 over John Mahama’s 26,414 votes in the constituency.
In 2016, President Akufo-Addo gained 21,048 (51.23%) whilst his closest contender, John Mahama earned 19, 319 (47.02); but the NPP’s presidential votes increased by 9,973 in the 2020 elections.
This includes a record number of over 9,500 votes in the Konkomba communities against the 5000 votes garnered in that area in 2016.
Amin Anta
In Karaga, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, a Deputy Minister for Energy, also made a name for himself with his performance.
The former MCE under the Kufuor administration grabbed the seat which had been traditionally held by the NDC, breaking the jinx.
The 28,335 votes secured by the Deputy Energy Minister were enough to give him a decisive victory with a margin of almost 9,000 votes against the 19,690 garnered by the NDC’s parliamentary candidate.
The 28,335 figure is almost 167 per cent increase in NPP’s votes compared to the 10,798 votes recorded by the 2016 NPP parliamentary candidate.
Similarly, he rallied unprecedented votes for the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who won in Karaga for the first time with a margin difference of 6,386 votes.
President Akufo-Addo secured 26,270 votes against Mr. Mahama’s 19,884 votes.
The two men, from their record in government, will be quality addition to Parliament and possibly fresh faces in President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial team.
Other’s including the son of the late former Vice-President, Farouk Aliu Mahama, who retained the Yendi parliamentary seat for the NPP with 40,624 votes, while his main contender, Alhassan Abdul Fatawu Jofa of NDC garnered 24,755 votes.
Nitiwul Show
Defense Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, also retained his seat in the Bimbila Constituency, while his colleague, Musah Abdul Aziz Ayaba, for the first time in 28 years, won the Mion seat for the NPP.
He polled 21,552 votes to beat his closest contender and the incumbent MP, Abdul-Aziz Mohammed of the NDC, who had 14,158 votes.
In the Nanton Constituency, Hardi Tuferu retained the seat for the NPP.
In the Tolon Constituency, the NPP parliamentary candidate, Habib Iddrisu, stretched the NPP’s parliamentary vote with difference of 1,057 in 2016 to 9,200 in this year’s polls, while President Akufo-Addo beat Mr. Mahama with a vote difference of 6,900 compared to the 300 votes in 2016.
NPP’s overall presidential performance in the Northern Region currently stands at 409,963 as against the NDC’s 476, 550.
In 2016 the NDC had 389,132 votes whilst the NPP had 286,868.