NPP Gets One Seat In Volta

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has won one parliamentary seat in the Volta Region after a fierce contest with the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in the area.

The seat, which used to be held by Wisdom Gidisu of the NDC, has now been taken over by Michael Yaw Gyato of the NPP in a surprising turn of events.

Mr Michael Gyato won the seat with 14,639 followed by the NDC's Wisdom Gidisu who had 14,396. For the presidential race, the NDC's John Mahama won with 16,556 followed by Nana Akufo-Addo, NDC, who had 12,075.

The results of the parliamentary polls led to some momentary jubilation by the NPP. However many citizens had been waiting anxiously for the results from other parts of the country.

Volta Is Quiet
Meanwhile, the entire Volta Region had become silent as results trickling in across the country showed that the NDC, which the region usually votes for, was trailing behind the opposition NPP.

Many of the residents remained indoors while others were going about their duties and businesses quietly.

Traders and business people were worried about the seemingly sluggish flow of business and trading. Most of shop attendants were seen glued to their television and radio sets.

Low Turnout
Apart from the general quietness in the region, there was a heightened worry over the low turnout of voters. Most of the residents could not understand how that had happened.

Abaraham Ati and Mary Osei believe residents were fed up with the government hence, the low turnout.

Mr. Benjamin Kpodo, Ho Central parliamentary candidate of the NDC who retained the seat with 47,6330, was also worried about the low turnout. He said the party would sit down and review the situation and improve its relationship with the region.

Calm Returns To Dzodze
Calm has returned to Dzodze and its surrounding communities in the Ketu North Constituency of the Volta Region after sporadic reprisal attacks between supporters of the governing NDC and those of the opposition NPP.

Calm returned after the Dzodze police, with reinforcement from Accra, arrested the key actors in the attacks.

Tension had heightened in Dzodze, capital of the Ketu North District, at about 11 am after news broke that the NPP and NDC were facing off in sporadic fights at nearby border communities.

The fracas, which had metamorphosed into reprisal attacks, resulted from an earlier clash between the two parties at Dzodze-Deme over moves by the NPP to prevent persons believed to be Togolese from coming to vote in Thursday's polls.

The Police whom had stopped an earlier clash began to receive reports of sporadic of attacks from both sides, hence the move to make arrests of perpetrators.

From Fred Duodu, Ho ( [email protected] )