Jirapa (U/W), April 8, GNA - Dr Francis Bawaana Dakurah, an anthropologist, has succeeded Mr. Edward Kojo Salia as the new Member of Parliament of the Jirapa following his victory in a bye-election election held on Tuesday.

Dr Dakurah, a former cadre during the PNDC era and one time employee of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, polled 12,518 votes, representing 79.10 per cent of the total votes cast. Mr. Justin Bayelah Dakurah, the New Patriotic Party candidate and the immediate past District Chief Executive for Jirapa, had 3,181 votes, representing 20.10 per cent.

Ms Joycelin Ansiena, a teacher who stood on the ticket of the Democratic People's Party, got 127 votes representing 0.80 per cent of total votes cast.

Certified results from Mr. Jackson Annoh, the District Electoral Officer, showed that out of 34,268 registered voters in the constituency, 16,360 people voted and out of that number 534 votes were rejected. No major incident that could question the credibility of the election was recorded in any of the 105 polling stations in the constituency.

The bye-election became necessary following the death of Mr. Salia in February.