THE GHANA 2016 GENERAL ELECTIONS: THE BATTLE FOR KORLE KLOTTEY

If there was going to be any suspense in the race to parliament in the 2016 elections, Korle Klottey was definitely a constituency to watch. The seat was contested by Ms Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Philip Addison, on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party and Mr Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, who defected from the NPP to run in the race as an independent candidate after losing out in court.

In the run-up to the elections, both Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings and Lawyer Philip Addison had to deal with court issues. Zanetor was said to be unqualified to contest the parliamentary seat on the ticket of the NDC while Lawyer Addison had to battle with Nii Noi Nortey in court over following controversies resulting from the parliamentary primary. After the court cases were settled, the various candidates focused on the main task of winning the constituency for their parties.

The election was soundly won by Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings who polled 33,609 votes and was followed in second place by Lawyer Philip Addison who polled 29,122 votes. Nii Noi Nortey polled 3,911 votes. As it stands now, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings appears to be the people’s choice and the parliamentary candidate-elect for the Korle Klottey constituency. It is believed that by virtue of the fact that she is the daughter of Ghana’s former President, Jerry John Rawlings, she had already won the hearts of many constituents in Korle Klottey. For Lawyer Philip Addison, who was the lead counsel in NPP’s Supreme Court case to challenge the 2012 general elections, his undoing was the rift that existed between him and Nii Noi. It is believed that many sympathizers of the NPP voted for Nii Noi or Zanetor due to the hostile manner with which the primary results were overturned in his favour.

It was a tightly contested race because for the first time in a long while, the individuals who were contesting in this year’s election for the Korle Klottey seat were all held in high regard and it was an election that was booked to be “too close to call”.  The results however showed that the predictions were not too close to call after all judging by the gap between the three candidates.

On Friday December 10^th, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings and her campaign team were seen driving through the principal streets of High Street in Accra to thank all those who helped her to secure the Korle Klottey seat in parliament. The days ahead can be said to be very promising.