Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, flagbearer hopeful of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), yesterday picked number two on the ballot for the party’s presidential primaries scheduled for November 4, 2023.
He followed the MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who picked number one on the ballot for the contest that promises to be keen.
The NPP Presidential Elections Committee (PEC), which announced this yesterday in a statement, said Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto will be third on the ballot for the presidential primaries.
He will be followed by Francis Addai-Nimoh, former MP for Mampong, the statement issued and signed by the committee’s Secretary, William Yamoah, indicated.
The PEC said it collaborated with officials from the Electoral Commission of Ghana, to successfully conduct the balloting for the contestants.
The statement said this was after a productive interactive session the PEC held yesterday with the four candidates for the party’s primaries.
The statement indicated that the committee also reached a consensus with all the contestants on the modalities for the conduct of the November 4 polls.
“The Presidential Elections Committee will release the details of the agreed guidelines and modalities for the November 4 election in due course,” the statement noted.
The committee expressed gratitude to the contestants for their continuous cooperation and collaboration.
The balloting for the four contestants comes after one of the flagbearer hopefuls, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, withdrew from the race to become presidential candidate of the party on September 5, 2023.
Alan, who placed third in the party’s recently held Super Delegates’ election, claimed the contest had been skewed in favour of one candidate.
According to him, his supporters were intimidated at the recent Super Delegates’ Conference, adding that he came to that conclusion after closely analysing the outcomes of the said elections.
Referencing his public statement issued on August 27, 2023, Mr. Kyerematen said the pronouncements made by some leading members of the NPP both before and after the elections, also lend weight to his observations.
“The level of intimidation of varying intensity, directly and indirectly unleashed on a significant number of delegates at various voting centres across the 16 regions, is unprecedented in the history of our party,” he said in a statement.
By Ernest Kofi Adu