NPP selects Baba Ali Yussif for Ayawaso East by-election

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has officially launched its bid to capture the Ayawaso East seat, formally acclaiming Baba Ali Yussif as its parliamentary candidate for the high-stakes by-election slated for Tuesday, 3rd March 2026.

The move, announced in a press release by General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong on Monday, 9th February 2026, follows a strategic consensus-building exercise designed to present a formidable front against a fractured opposition.

The decision to field Baba Ali Yussif—the party’s current Constituency Secretary—comes after the National Executive Committee (NEC) tasked a high-powered Candidate Search Committee, chaired by former General Secretary John Boadu, to identify a candidate capable of delivering an upset in the traditionally pro-NDC enclave.

The acclamation ceremony took place on Sunday, 8th February 2026, during an expanded Constituency Executive Committee meeting and Delegates Conference.

The NPP’s swift and united coronation of Baba Ali Yussif stands in stark contrast to the chaos currently engulfing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the same constituency.

While the NPP has unified behind a single candidate, the NDC is reeling from a bribery and vote-buying scandal.

In his official statement, Justin Kodua Frimpong urged the party faithful to set aside internal differences and focus on the March 3rd polls.

The NPP is framing this by-election not just as a political contest but as an opportunity to provide effective representation to a constituency that has been at the centre of recent political controversy.

“The Party therefore calls on all members, supporters, and sympathisers of the NPP to rally solidly behind Baba Ali Yussif, who represents the Party’s best opportunity to secure victory… to help restore hope, effective representation, and prosperity to the Constituency,” the statement read.

With the Electoral Commission preparing for the March 3rd showdown, the focus now shifts to whether the NPP’s message of restoring hope can break the NDC’s long-standing grip on Ayawaso East.