Ghana’s next parliament will not have independent candidates, as none of them could secure a win during the December 7 polls.
At least in 2012, there were three Independent candidates who won parliamentary seats.
The independent candidates, most of whom contested in the Volta Region, and other parts of the country, lost the elections in their respective constituencies in the just ended polls.
Some of the candidates, known to have broken away from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), made no significant impact in the elections, although some have been blamed for the diminished chances of their former political parties.
Breakdown of independent parliamentary candidates
This year’s elections saw a number independent candidates contesting various seats. The numbers, a significant increase from that of the 2012 election, could be attributed to various factors particularly splits from major parties like the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), following misunderstandings over their respective primaries.
In 2012, three independent candidates won their respective seats with one each in the Volta, Northern and Upper West Region.
The country’s two main political parties the NDC and the NPP, before the elections, disassociated themselves from all former members who filed to contest various parliamentary seats as independent candidates.
The NDC earlier in November 2016, dismissed 23 candidates including 3 incumbent parliamentarians, for going independent from the party, after losing the party’s primaries.
According to a statement by the Party’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the candidates’ actions were “a breach of the party’s constitution.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
