NPP settles on three for president

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has decided to allow only three persons to contest the position of the party's flag-bearer for election 2012 and thereafter.

The decision, taken by the party's National Council, the highest decision making body after congress, is part of the proposed amendments to the constitution of the party and a serious departure from what happened during the last congress when the party allowed as many as 17 aspirants to jostle for the coveted position.

Earlier suggestions had centered on two presidential candidates in order to stem the bitter acrimony occasioned by the maddening crowd, but the National Council decided to expand it to three for the sake of competition.

The party, at a National Council meeting last Tuesday, decided that if more than three persons showed interest in the flag-bearer position, a special Electoral College would vote after which the first three aspirants with the highest votes would be presented to the larger delegates for them to vote to elect one.

Sources at last Tuesday's meeting told Daily Guide that the party leadership admitted that the large number of aspirants that competed for the flag-bearer position in 2007 did not help the party and that this new proposal is considered a better system of selecting and electing a flag-bearer.

The 20-page proposed amendments referred to previous discussions on the subject and the position that the party manages the usually large number of aspirants, observing that this has been counterproductive to the party's interests.

Both the NEC and National Council of the party agreed that much as it is the democratic right of every member to seek the presidential candidacy of the party, this should be managed in such a way as to avoid sharp divisions, bad public image and waste of resources.

The paper gathered that the Special Electoral College that would vote to decide on the final three aspirants shall include the National Council, NEC, all Regional Officers, National Council Elders, all MPs on the party's ticket and three representatives from each of the party's Special Organs.

The rest are ten representatives of external branches, all existing founding members during the registration of the party at the Electoral Commission and all NPP card-bearing Ministers when the party was in government.

The composition of delegates that would elect one of the top three aspirants shall however be expanded to cover the above officers as well as Constituency Executive Officers and Electoral Area Coordinators.

Also included are fifteen patrons, five Polling Station Executive officers in each constituency and three representatives from each of the special organs of the party and one TESCON representative each from all recognized tertiary institutions.