NPP race: There mustn’t be a 2nd primary

Any of the seven flagbearer aspirants of the main opposition New Patriotic Party who secures at least 68 percent of votes in Sunday’s Super Delegates’ Conference should be automatically declared the 2016 flagbearer of the party, the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Council of elders has proposed.

The Elders are in good company with the party’s Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Ismael Ashittey, who also made a similar proposal Tuesday.

The NPP’s amended constitution provides that a Super Delegates’ Conference is held to whittle down the number of aspirants to five in case more than that number fights for the slot.

About 115,000 Delegates will subsequently elect one of the five in another conference. Seven aspirants are vying for the slot this year.

Ashittey told party supporters Tuesday when his preferred candidate, two-time presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, campaigned in Tema that: “We don’t have to create any doubt in the minds of supporters…if we declare 100 percent support for Nana Akufo-Addo, then the rest will get zero” so there will be no need for a second primary.

He suggested that all the others should voluntarily withdraw their candidature after Sunday’s conference which will involve about 1,000 Delegates.

As far as the Ashanti Regional Elders of the party are concerned, “there will be no need for a second election” if one of the six emerges winner with a sizeable chunk of votes.

Council Chairman Appenteng Appiah Menka told Journalists at a press conference that the current financial circumstances of the party makes the proposal a tenable suggestion.