No Absolute Majority In Parliament
Dr Afari Gyan ASSERTIONS BY the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it had won majority seats in parliament in the just ended elections have been proven by some political pundits and analysts as false.
By constitutional calculations, majority in parliament only goes to a political party which captures an outright 116 seats, out of the 230 constituencies in the country.
Even though the NDC managed to get 113 seats in parliament, which is less than what could have catapulted it to clinch majority in the august house, it is still claiming upper hand over its arch rival, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which won 109 seats.
The only seat in contention due to voting irregularities as at now is the Akwatia constituency, with no results announced yet.
This controversial seat was contested by two independent candidates, Samuel Abrokwa and Basil Ahiable, NDC's Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, Dr. Kofi Asare of the NPP, and Samuel Agyei of the Convention People's Party (CPP).
Four independent candidates annexed four of the seats in parliament; the People's National Convention (PNC) took two with the Convention People's Party (CPP) grabbing one.
The NPP's 109 seats plus the other seven, making 116 seats, rather outweighs the NDC's claim of being in a clear majority with 113 seats.
In this case, if the opposition NDC fails to grab the Akwatia seat after the pending issue is resolved and any other party or individual gets it, the tally would increase to 117 in favour of the NPP while excessive pressure would be mounted on the NDC because it would be relegated to a minority status.
Meanwhile last Sunday's presidential polls saw NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo leading his opponent, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the NDC with 49.13 percent while the latter got 47.92 percent. By Nathaniel Y. Yankson