There is a strong opposition within the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the advocates pushing for early internal elections of the party.
This position though is highly favoured by the National Executive of the party, Jubilee House is strongly opposed to it.
A section of the party’s top hierarchy believes that early elections would ehance the party’s chances of breaking the 8, others believe it will disrupt the plans and programmes of the government.
Jubilee House, DGN Online understands wants the 2024 Economic and Budget Statement approved before the primaries are held.
The seat of government also argues that early primaries will create a parallel between the president and the presidential candidate which is most likely to affect the party chances of maintaining power in 2024 if nothing is done about it.
But some Majority Caucus are in support of early primaries to help them deal with factions within their constituency if possible.
A meeting last night by the National Executive Committee of the party failed to arrive on a conclusive timelines for it presidential and parliamentary primaries.
The meeting failed to achieve it purpose as the National Executive Committee (NEC) wants more engagement in terms of broader consultations before a date is fixed for primaries.
The meeting which had top hierarchy members of the party including President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the Chief of Staff, some Members of Parliament, and some presidential hopefuls in attendance was expected to set a date for the presidential and parliamentary primaries but ended inconclusively.
This is so because while some blocs within the party are pushing for an early congress, others want the party to stick to its constitution of electing a flagbearer 12 months before the next general election.
After some hours of deliberations the meeting ended inconclusively.
Confirming the decision of the Committee, the General Secretary of the party, Justin Frimpong Koduah told the media that there was no challenge regarding fixing the dates for the elections.
He However mentioned that they needed to do more deliberations centered on strengthening the party’s internal structure before settling on a date.
According to him, “I am sorry to disappoint you that from Steering Committee through to NEC and National Council (NC) it has been resolved that as a party, we need to do further consultation on the timelines for the presidential and parliamentary elections and within the shortest time possible, we will come out with the timelines for our presidential and parliamentary elections.”
The chief scribe stressed “As a party, we believe in consensus building and we recognise the views of each stakeholder in our deliberations so we want to come out with a date that is built on consensus and once that is done, we will tell you when the timelines will come.”
Unconfirmed report indicates that the Council had set November 2023 to elect its presidential candidate, January 2024 to elect parliamentary candidates for constituencies with non sitting Members of Parliament and April 2024 for constituencies with sitting MPs.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress has scheduled May 13 for it primaries.
By Vincent Kubi