Dr. Stephen Torkpo, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary aspirant of the Akatsi North Constituency, has promised to work hard to increase votes for the party in the Elections 2024 if given the nod.

Dr. Torkpo was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Ave- Dakpa in the Akatsi North district of the Volta Region.

Dr. Torkpo, who is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Ghana, had filed his nomination form to contest against Peter Nortsu Kotoe, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency.

He said the incumbent MP had lost popularity at the grassroots of the party which had affected the performance of the NDC in the last two major elections.

An observation of previous elections showed that candidate John Mahama lost 270 votes between the elections 2012 and 2016, and 286 votes between 2016 and 2020, he said.

On the flip side, the NPP gained 173 votes between 2012 and 2016, and alarmingly, in 2020, gained 1,562 votes.

Dr Torkpo observed that, in the parliamentary elections, the incumbent MP, who was seeking re-election for a fourth term, had his votes declining from 11,482 in 2016 to 9,770, while a new and relatively unknown NPP candidate, who is the current District Chief Executive for the area, improved significantly on the votes his predecessor obtained in 2016, which was from 1,379 to 4,575 in 2020.

The aspirant is contesting the NDC primaries for the fourth time after losing narrowly to the incumbent in the last three similar elections.

He said there was “an urgent need for the NDC to present a new and popular candidate to neutralise the gains of the NPP in Akatsi North, a candidate, who understands the issues of the grassroots people, who form the nucleus of the party.”

Dr. Torkpo, a native of Ave-Havi, promised to run a campaign devoid of insults and attacks going into the primaries and to unite the party if officially elected as the Parliamentary candidate on May 13.

“I intend to run an open-door policy, working with all stakeholders in the party and to bring everyone on board to ensure a resounding victory for the umbrella party in the Elections 2024,” he said.

He advised all aspirants in the upcoming primaries to avoid the use of intemperate language during their campaigns.