The Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, has suggested that the constitutional requirement for by-elections to fill vacancies in the country's Parliament should be re-examined.
In a post shared on Facebook on July 13, 2025, Prof Kwasi Prempeh, who is also the Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), said that political parties whose seats are declared vacant should be given the chance to fill the seat first.
He indicated that this opportunity should be given to parties if the vacancies are created within the first year of the commencement of a new Parliament. "What if, instead of a by-election, the party that held the seat was given a right to elect a replacement whenever a vacancy occurs within 12 months of the last election?" Prof Prempeh wrote.
His comments come following the death of the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi, which implies that the Akwatia seat will soon be declared vacant by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.