Upper Denkyira By-Election: NDC, CPP To Boycott ?

According to THE INDEPENDENT, NDC is likely to boycott the Upper Denkyira Parliamentary by–elections to be conducted on the 29th of June, 2004.

Hon. Ofosu Ampofo, the National Organiser of the Party, said the decision to boycott the by-election is as a result of some election exercise to be organised by the EC.

Explaining the cause of the party's feet-dragging attitude towards the impending by-election, Mr. Ampofo said, the Supreme Court ruling, which gave the EC the green light to create more constituencies across the country saw the division of Upper Denkyira Constituency into two.

Hon. Ampofo, who was speaking on “Fox FM” programme in Kumasi via telephone asked rhetorically, which of the newly-created constituencies is to be used for the elections.

He said the NDC is waiting to be told which voters register would be used as the old register cannot be found and the new one cannot be used except for the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Mr. Ampofo said that, the NDC is now seeking a legal interpretation from the EC and other bodies on the matter before fielding a candidate to contest the up-coming election. “CPP Should Not Contest Upper-Denyira By-Election – Pratt A leading Member of the Conventions People's Party (CPP) Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, has said that, there is no value for his party to contest the Upper-Denyira by-election which is scheduled for June 29th.

Contributing to discussions on Peace FM on Tuesday 18th May, Mr Pratt who is also the Managing Editor of “Insight Newspaper” indicated that the Upper-Denyira seat which became vacant after the death of Hon C.O. Nyanor has been originally an NPP seat.

He said although he cannot decide for his party, he feels it a waste of resources for a party to contest the vacant for only 5 months and then look for resources to campaign for the General elections scheduled for December.

According to Mr Pratt, any serious strategist would rather mobilise resources and gear up for the general elections, instead of contesting a by-election in a few weeks from now.