AMSTERDAM SOUTHEAST: Three Ghanaians win election on Ticket of Dutch Labour Party

Three out of the eight Ghanaian candidates who ran for office at the just-ended Dutch municipal and district council elections have won.

While Ernest Owusu Sekyere, 51, Augustina Osei, 28 and Ama Asabea Carr, 27 were elected on the populist appeal of the Dutch Labour Party through massive Ghanaian vote, Stephen Oduro and Kwabena Adanse-Pipim lost the fray on the wings of a local party that called itself ?Liveable Southeast?(Leefbaar Zuidoost) whose influence hardly goes beyond the southeast district.

Emelia Ampomaah,James Atta Nuamah, and Vincent Gambrah are the other Ghanaians who stood in The Hague on the ticket of the Solidair Nederland Party, Multivolks Party and the Christian Union, respectively also lost.

The election results, which were announced late evening on the same day, 7 March, 2006 had the Labour Party sweeping 17 of the 29 seats, three more than the pre-elections projections of 14, with the liberals (VVD) 3; the Green Left, hitherto a seemingly dying party in the district won two seats while, the Christian Democrats were severely punished and won only a seat. The Socialist Party had three and the Democrat 66 got no seat at all.

Liveable Southeast(Leefbaar Zuidoost) won two seats, down from five, four years ago when it ranked the second largest party while the Christian Union retained its lone seat.

Mokum Mobile, Solidarity Southeast, Multicultural Southeast (MUZO), Future 21( Toekomst 21) and other groups did not all win seats.

At the time of filing this report, official sources said up to about 4,000 eligible Ghanaian voters may have cast their vote in the Southeast district alone. Details on exact number and pattern of voting, however, are yet to be confirmed.

Source: Akasanoma Radio Amsterdam