Meet first Ghanaian woman who has won MP seat in UK elections

A Ghanaian-British politician, Abena Oppong-Asare has been elected as the next Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead constituency in the southeast of Outer London in the United Kingdom, ABC News can report.

She won the seat with 48 per cent of the votes, representing 19,882 votes as against 16,124 votes gathered by her closest contender, Joe Robertson from the Conservative Party.

The other contesters, Brexit Party candidate Tom Bright, Liberal Democrat Sam Webber, Green Party candidate Claudine Letsae and Richard Mitchell of Christian Peoples Alliance won 2,246, 1,984, 876 and 272 votes respectively.

With a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Politics and International Relations, she attained a Master’s degree in International Law with International Relations  both from the University of Kent.

She is also reported to be the first black woman to be elected onto the Fabian Women’s Network Executive Committee and works as a researcher for the London Assembly Labour Group focusing on equalities. Prior to this, she worked in Parliament for high profile politicians.

In a tweet earlier Friday, celebrating her victory, Abena wrote: “Thank you very much to everyone who voted for me to become the @E_TLabour MP. Also thank you to everyone that rallied behind me, working their socks off to make this possible. There are soo many unsung heroes who helped me fight to keep this seat red!

The election saw the victory of another Ghanaian woman, Bell Ribeiro-Addy who won the Streatham constituency seat after securing 54.8 per cent share with 30,976 votes.

Meanwhile, their Labour Party was defeated in the general elections losing 59 seats and finishing with 203. The Conservatives won 365 seats.

Below is a graphical representation of the election outcome: