Renowned pollster, Ben Ephson has backed Charles Opoku, the New Patriotic Party’s candidate in the Assin North by-election to get one over James Gyakye Quayson of the National Democratic Congress.

Ben Ephson, in a Joy News interview, held that the election is quite close but believes that the determining factors favor the New Patriotic Party.

Laying the premise for his prediction of victory for the NPP, Ben Ephson noted that Gyakye Quayson won the 2020 elections largely because his place of origin is Assin Bereku.

According to him, with Assin Bereku holding the largest number of voters within the constituency, Gyakye Quayson had the advantage of his own people voting massively for him.

The situation is however different as Charles Opoku who is the NPP’s candidate also hails from the town.

Ephson also argued that the ‘sympathy votes’ campaign which was being championed by the NDC has been dealt a blow following the decision of the Accra High Court to allow Gyakye Quayson to campaign whiles his criminal trial is ongoing.

“Both parties want this seat so badly. For Quayson the sympathy votes that he would have gotten have dropped a bit because some NDC people were trying to influence the swing voters that when there is a by-election, roads get done and monies come from both parties so let's vote for Quayson so that if he loses, then we will have another chance for another by-election but the court asking to go back to the campaign has dimmed his chances.

“For the NPP candidate, the little investigations I’ve done show that he has been preparing himself for politics. For the past few years, he has an NGO which has been doing a number of activities. That gives him an advantage. If you were to gamble with your last 100 cedis, I will advise you to put your money on the NPP candidate even though it's too close to call," he said.

He added that “Quayson came from Assin Bereku and the lady was from another area. The lady had issues with some of the NPP executives in Assin Bereku which is why this time she was asked to stay aside. With both candidates coming Assin Bereku and the lady who is popular in another town campaigning for the NPP… The NPP candidate has also been doing a lot of philanthropic works in Assin North.”

In what has been termed as a mid-term election to assess the popularity of the two main political parties ahead of the 2024 elections, James Gyakye Quayson of the NDC is battling Charles Opoku of the NPP to retain the seat which he won in 2020.

The by-election was necessitated by a Supreme Court decision to declare the 2020 elections in the constituency as null and void.

The court held that at the time of filing to contest, James Gyakye Quayson had not successfully renounced his Canadian citizenship and thus was a dual citizen of Ghana and Canada.

KPE/DA