Asamankese (E/R), June 25, GNA - Mr James Appietu-Ankrah, Area Manager of the Northern Sector of the State Insurance Company (SIC), was on Thursday elected as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Lower West Akim Constituency.

Mr Appietu-Ankrah, 56, polled 62 votes out of the 81 cast, with one abstention to beat his opponent, Miss Gifty Klenam, 33, an Industrialist, who had 18 votes at the Party's primaries held at Asamankese in the Eastern Region. Mr Lord Commey, National Organiser of the Party, told supporters that the NPP would win massively in the elections, stressing that the "party does not consider the Election 2004 as a contest". He described the NPP as "a principled and democratic Party, which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should learn from".

Mr Commey asked Party members in the constituency to rally behind the parliamentary candidate to enable the Party to wrest the seat from the NDC. He said the NDC failed to contest the bye-election in the Upper Denkyira constituency because "they know that they will lose." The Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Francis Osafo Mensah predicted that NPP would win 26 out of the 28 seats in the Region and called on the Party activists to intensify their campaign to achieve the objective. He commended the members in the Constituency for peaceful election and expressed the hope that they would unite and support the candidate to win the seat.

Nana Adi Ankamah, Eastern Regional Chairman of the Party, who introduced Mr Appietu-Ankrah to the gathering, urged them to rally behind him for the Party to win the seat. Mr Appietu-Ankrah expressed gratitude to the members for the confidence reposed in him and urged them to give him the needed support to win the seat. Miss Klenam pledged her support to Mr Appietu-Ankrah in his bid to wrest the seat from the NDC.