Dr Kwame Asah Asante, speaking on the AM Show, said the exercise demonstrated Ghana’s democratic maturity — but warned that the country must do more to engage citizens during by-elections.

“We saw a free and fair election — an election devoid of violence and any aberration that undermines free and fair elections,” he said.

“Security was also tight, and the voters themselves compelled themselves to go through the process to its logical end.”

The Ayawaso East constituency went to the polls to fill the parliamentary seat left vacant by the death of four-term MP Naser Toure Mahama, who passed away on January 4, 2026, following a period of illness at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

NDC candidate Alhaji Mohammed Baba Jamal Ahmed won the seat decisively, securing 10,884 votes — representing 63 per cent of valid ballots cast — against his closest rival, NPP’s Baba Ali Yussif, who polled 4,009 votes.

Out of 49,966 registered voters in the constituency, only 17,048 ballots were cast across 113 polling stations, with 16,928 deemed valid and 120 rejected.

The figures led to what Dr Asante described as a worrying trend of low participation in by-elections across Ghana.

“That tells us that as a state we need to up our game in that direction and make sure that we get people to show interest in by-elections — particularly people in affected constituencies,” he said.

Despite the turnout concerns, the political scientist noted that the overall conduct of the election was orderly. He pointed to the swift acceptance of results by all candidates as a positive sign.

NPP’s Baba Ali Yussif conceded defeat and congratulated Baba Jamal, while suggesting the party could capture the seat in future contests.

The winner, for his part, pledged to focus on development, declaring that “the resetting of Ayawaso East starts now.”

Dr Asante said the peaceful outcome and the gracious acceptance of results by both winners and losers signalled a mature democratic culture. “It tells you that we have come to the end of the show,” he remarked.

The Ayawaso East seat has remained a stronghold of the NDC since 1992, with the party winning every parliamentary election held in the constituency.

Tuesday’s result continued that trend, with the NDC retaining the seat.

Baba Jamal, a lawyer and former MP for Akwatia, previously served as a Deputy Minister during the first term of President John Dramani Mahama and was recently recalled as Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria — over allegations of voter inducement during the party’s constituency primaries, claims that were later found to be unfounded.

The by-election was the second of the 9th Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

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With the two major political parties – the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – crisscrossing the country and battling for votes, such high turnout is expected to have considerable impact on the fortunes of the two parties, especially if they are able to galvanise their base and also attract floating voters.

The study further revealed that both the NPP and the NDC were at par in the presidential race, with 46.3 per cent of the voters’ surveyed saying they would vote for the NPP, with the same percentage sticking with the NDC.

Former President John Dramani Mahama, the flag bearer of the NDC, was seen as “currently more visible in the constituencies, but the study identified that NPP’s Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia is popular among the Christian voter population, while the NDC’s Mahama is popular among Muslim voters, including the Zongos.

Context

The study, a copy of which the Daily Graphic has sighted, was conducted by a team of researchers commissioned from the University of Ghana led by their former colleague, Dr Isaac Owusu. It sampled the views of 28,935 registered voters from all the 276 constituencies, between August 1 to August 23, this year.

However, the findings showed that 4.4 per cent of the electorate were likely to vote for other political parties and independent candidates, a situation that could push the elections to a run-off, the study found out.

“A considerable three per cent are yet to decide their preference. The smaller parties and independent candidates shared 4.4 per cent of the votes. This means the smaller parties have the capacity to push the elections to a run-off. Neither the NDC nor NPP can win the entire undecided component of electorate,” the study pointed out.

Again, the study concluded that Nana Kwame Bediako, the leader of the New Force Movement, is expected to perform considerably well due to his popularity among the youthful voters, while the flag bearer of the Movement for Change, Alan Kyerematen, and the other political parties were also working hard to become part of the voting decision of the electorate.