NPP stands the risk of defeat if it does not give Bawumia free hand to choose his running mate - Group warns

A civil society group, Alliance for Election Watchers, says the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) stands the risk of dwindling electoral fortunes if it does not allow the Vice President and Presidential Candidate, His Excellency Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the freedom to select his running mate.

The group has also questioned the basis upon which a survey, supposedly testing the preferability of certain individuals as the running mate for the ruling New Patriotic Party's presidential candidate, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, was conducted.

Describing such a survey as unnecessary and unscientific, the group argues that it is not politically prudent to make an informed decision on who to select as a running mate for a particular candidate when individuals have not officially put themselves up for contest.

"The results of such a survey are fundamentally flawed for several reasons," the group contended, stressing that the running mate position is not a contested slot to be vied for by individuals.

According to them, such reports only put undue pressure on the presidential candidate, who requires a sound, independent mind to make an informed decision on whom he prefers to partner with him.

"In any case, let's not forget that Dr. Bawumia himself was not selected on the basis of a national survey, nor did he engage in a media blitz to catch the attention of the then-flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo," it noted in a statement released in response to the alleged survey.

The Alliance for Election Watchers, therefore, warned that the NPP stands the risk of losing its electoral fortunes if it does not give the flagbearer the freedom to select his preferred choice.

"We know Dr. Bawumia is not oblivious to the fact that selecting a running mate goes beyond just what a few individuals and media personalities will say; otherwise, he (Bawumia) himself wouldn't have been selected in the first place, let alone get the slot a second time by Candidate Akufo-Addo," the group observed.