Editorial by Ghanaian Times: May the best candidate win ‘showdown’ tomorrow?

A total of 203, 439 el­igible delegates will tomorrow converge on 331 designated polling centres to vote across the 275 constituencies nation­wide in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primaries to elect a flagbear­er to lead the party in the 2024 general elections.

The delegates would be faced with the daunting task of selecting from a field of four candidates namely, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central; Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie, a former Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Mr Francis Addai-Ni­moh, a former MP for Mampong, Ashanti Region.

The candidates in the past few months have been crisscrossing the country to sell their messages to delegates and solicit their votes.

No doubt, the presiden­tial flagbearership aspirants have been engaged in an intense campaign thus turn­ing the poll into a close and keen contest. Expectations are high as supporters of the contestants also argue and campaign for their favourite candidates.

Poll watchers have already begun predicting the outcome of the contest but each of the candidates is confident of carrying the day. The winner of the contest would be expected to obtain more than 50 percent of the votes to become the flagbearer for the December 2024 general election.

Having followed the con­testants campaign and the party's preparation for the election, the Ghanaian Times does not doubt that the poll would pass off smooth­ly for a worthy winner to emerge as the flagbearer.

We are hopeful that in spite of the spirited cam­paign and sometimes hot exchanges between some of the candidates and their supporters, delegates would see the contest as an inter­nal one and go through the voting process peacefully.

We have followed keenly and assessed all four candidates, particularly their campaign messages to delegates, and come to the firm conclusion that they all mean well for the country.

Is that enough to win any of them the flagbearership? We leave that to the dele­gates to decide on Saturday.

It would be against the interest of the party for the delegates and supporters to allow the hot exchang­es to divide them because they would need everyone on board to contest and win the 2024 presidential election.

This is not the first time the party is going into such an election. History is there to guide delegates to elect a flagbearer who is capable of prosecuting the party’s agenda of retaining power for the NPP.

We are aware that the party has made adequate arrangements with the Elec­toral Commission and the Police to help conduct the election. We are confident they would do a good job.

It is our hope that the four flagbearer aspirants would also educate their supporters and delegates to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the election in order not to repeat the un­fortunate scenes that were recorded during the Super Delegates’ Conference in August.

It is our prayer that the election will be peaceful and may the best candidate win.