NPP To Slide Into Minority ?

3 BY-ELECTIONS NOT COOL CHOP

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), which has a slim majority in Parliament, may slide into minority, depending on the outcome of by-elections soon to be held in two or three constituencies.

Should the NPP lose two or all three, the country will be left with no party in the law-making Parliament with a clear majority. Observers say such a precarious situation could make governance more difficult for the two-year-old NPP government and give impetus for increased agitations by the opposition, notably the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which has as many as 90 members in the House.

And the threat to the NPP is real, as the NDC has vowed to annex the two or three seats that are up for grabs. In fact, the national youth organiser of the NDC, Haruna Iddrisu, has predicted that his party would take control of Parliament after the three by-elections, “if the elections were held in a free and fair manner.”

The constituencies include Gomoa East, which from 1992 to 2000 was controlled by the NDC but the NPP won in the last elections.

The NPP MP, Emmanuel Acheampong, died in a car accident on February 2.

The others are, John Setuni Achuliwor (Navorongo Central) who died in a similar accident and the seat at Wulensi, which might be declared vacant at the end of an on-going electoral litigation between the NPP and NDC.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, who disclosed his party’s determination to pull the NPP into the minority, in an interview, said the NDC is leaving no stone unturned to ensure it achieves its aim.

He noted that with the restructuring of the party over, the party is poised for action. He said that although the NDC is having some financial difficulties, which are peculiar to parties in opposition, the party is strong enough to win the by-elections and to go ahead to win the general elections next year to control both Parliament and the Castle.

On the issue of the party handpicking candidates for the constituencies he said that practice had been dispensed with during the restructuring and that every candidate would vie for the position on an even playing field. He continued that Parliamentary candidates would have to contest for the primaries and candidates would be selected by the simple majority system.

Should the NPP lose its majority in Parliament, it will be the first time Ghana’s democracy, which has seen four republics in 46 years, is having a government without parliamentary majority.

It is noted that in 1954, the ruling Convention People’s Party had 71 seats in the 104-member Parliament, which also contained as many as 16 independent members.

The Northern People’s Party had 12, Togoland Congress had 2 and the Ghana Congress, Muslim Association Party and Anlo Youth each had one member in Parliament. The picture did not change much two years later when another election was held: the CPP had 71 out of the 104 seats and the remaining six had only 33 seats all put together.

In the only Parliament of the Second Republic (1969), the Progress Party collected 105 of the 140 seats available. The closest party, the National Alliance of Liberals (NAL) got 29, United Nationalist Party had 2; People’s Action Party - 2, All People’s Republican Party - 1, and Dr. Bannerman, an independent candidate, also had one seat.

The closest to what we have in Parliament today was what the 1979 elections produced.

Incidentally, both the 1979 and 2000 elections necessitated a run-off between the two top-most presidential candidates. In the Parliament formed after 1979, the People’s National Party had 71 out of the 140 seats, something comparable to the NPP having 101 out of the 200 seats currently.

But the leading opposition party, the Popular Front Party had 47, a little below the strength of the leading opposition party now – the NDC which has 90 out of the 200 seats. The United National Convention (UNC) had 8; the Action Congress Party had 10 and Social Democratic Front 4.

In the current circumstances, the NPP has 101 seats, having struggled to add one more seat to their 100 after the resignation of Alhaji Mohammed Ibn Chambas. The NDC has 91, the People’s National Convention – 3; the CPP – 1 and Independent – 4. The possible loss of the three seats will make the NPP get 99 and the NDC, which is most likely to benefit from such a loss, could have 93.

Before the Navorongo seat fell into the hands of the NPP in 2000, it had been won by Achuliwor as an independent candidate in 1992. Then it slipped into the hands of the NDC in 1996, before falling to the NPP in 2000, when Achuliwor contested on the ticket of the NPP. So like Gomoa East, Navorongo has not been a safe, stronghold for the NPP.

If the NPP loses the Wulensi seat alone, the situation reverts to the status quo, as it was already in the hands of the NDC. But if the government party loses the Navorongo Central and Gomoa East seats they slide into a minority with 99 and could experience the barrage of problems that the PNP encountered till the unfortunate coup d’etat of December 31, 1981.

A minister and leading member of the NPP, Mr. Yaw Barimah, agreed that a loss of two seats could make things tough for the government party, noting that, “to be able to pursue its legislative agenda, government would have no choice than to depend on the support of the one CPP, three PNC and the four independent members.”

In the Third Republic after an alliance forged between the PNP and UNC was abrogated, all the opposition parties ganged up against the government. But the NPP sources say they are optimistic of continued collaboration from all opposition parties, apart from the NDC.