The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will open nominations on Wednesday, May 31, for the upcoming Assin North by-election in the Central Region.

The NPP’s internal primary follows a declaration by Parliament that the Assin North Parliamentary seat is vacant after the Supreme Court ruled on the eligibility of James Gyakye Quayson in occupying the Assin North seat.

The party in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, noted that the nomination forms will be available at the Constituency Party Office for purchase.

“The New Patriotic Party, at its Steering Committee (SC) meeting, approved the following timelines for holding the parliamentary primary election at Assin North for the by-election.”
New Patriotic Party

The party stated that opening of Nominations is on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, while the closing of same is on Thursday, June 1, 2023. Additionally, it noted that election will take place on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Furthermore, the NPP has also approved detailed Rules and Regulations to govern the conduct of the parliamentary primary election which would be made available to stakeholders.

Parliament declares Assin North seat vacant

The timelines by the NPP comes after Ghana’s Parliament notified the Electoral Commission (EC) of a vacancy in the Assin North Constituency.

A letter written to the Commission by the Clerk on Tuesday, May 30 stated that: “In the exercise of the power conferred and the duty imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act 1996 (Act 527), I Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, Clerk to Parliament do hereby formally notify you of the occurrence of a vacancy in the Assin North Constituticny necessitated by the Judgement of the Supreme Court dated 17th May 2023 vide Writ No. J1/11/2022 issued in respect of James Gyakye Quayson in the case of Micaheal Ankomah Nimfah vrs James Gyakye Quayson, the Electoral Commission of Ghana and the Attorney General request you to take appropriate consequential actions as required by law“.

It will be recalled that the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to remove the name of Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, from the records of the Legislature.

The apex court on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, unanimously ruled that the name of Gyakye Quayson, should be expunged from the records of Parliament.

This was after plaintiff Michael Ankomah Nimfah filed an application, seeking among others, a true and proper interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution. He sought to invoke the original jurisdiction of the apex court of the land to declare the election of Mr Gyakye Quayson as unconstitutional.

Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution indicates that: “A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.”

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Minority in Parliament expressed dismay in the ruling on the dual citizenship case against James Gyekye Quayson, the Member of Parliament for Assin North.

In a statement released on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, expressed his side’s disapproval of the ruling.

Mr Forson in the statement insisted that “at the time of his election, Hon. James Gyakye Quayson was not a dual citizen, neither was he a dual citizen as at the time he took the oath of office as a Member of Parliament”.

On his part, James Gyakye Quayson in a statement stated that in spite of his disappointment in the Court’s decision, he remains committed to the development of Assin North constituency.