Koforidua, May 3, GNA - Only three women out of the seven who contested the parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern Region won.

They are Ms Dedo Dufie Agyarko, the parliamentary candidate for Lower Manya in the 2004 elections and two sitting Members of Parliament, Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah, for New Abirem and Ms Gifty Klenam, Lower West Akyem.

Ms Dedo Dufie obtained 321 votes to defeat her only challenger, Mr Samuel Tetteh Amlado, who received 192 votes.

Ms Gifty Klenam obtained 219 votes to defeat two other male candidates, Mr Sintim Aboagye, former District Chief Executivefor West Akyem, who received only five votes with Mr Asamoah Dua obtaining 189. At New Abirem, Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah received 161 votes, to defeat Mr Osei Frimpong, who got 97 votes, with Ms Grace Omaboe popularly known as Mame Dorkono, a popular actress of Obra fame, getting 65 votes cast.

Speaking to the Ghana New Agency in separate telephone interviews on Tuesday, Ms Dedo Dufie thanked the and said she would work harder to ensure that come 2012 she would win the Lower Manya seat for the first time for the NPP.

She assured that she would work hand in hand with her challenger to win more support for the party in order to bring back the NPP to power.

Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah attributed her victory to the hard work she had been doing in the constituency since she entered Parliament in 2005.

She said she had contributed a lot to the sustenance of the party since she became an MP by way of providing logistics to the foot soldiers and assured that she would continue to support them to enable the party to retain the seat in 2012.

Ms Obeng Dapaah said what was needed was unity and therefore appealed to the other contestants to join hands with her to win more support for the part in the area.

Ms Gifty Klenam thanked the delegates for giving her the mandate to represent the party once again.

She said her victory was a great testimony of the good work she was doing in the constituency since she became the MP in 2009 and assured that she would continue to support the party in diverse ways to enable them win more support.

She also appealed to all those who contested with her to join hands to retain the seat for the party and also bring back the party to power to continue the good works.