Stephen Ntim
The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Council members met yesterday to discuss a petition filed to the party leadership by nine flagbearer candidates asking the party leadership to reconsider the decision to centralise the August 26 special delegates congress.
According to the petitioners, the plan to hold the special congress on a regional basis does not sit well with them, arguing that decentralising an election with only 900 delegates will not be a wise decision.
The petition followed an announcement by the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong that a new register of about 1,000 delegates was being compiled by the party and would be out by the end of the week.
“We are in the final stage of doing the compilation. Basically, we are not going to exceed 1,000 so between 900 and 1,000 delegates will form the special electoral college,” the NPP Chief Scribe stated.
In response to the petition, the party’s National Executive Committee convened a meeting attended by either the aspirants or their representatives to address the issue and reach a final conclusion.
At the time of filing this report, the meeting was said to be ongoing.
Meanwhile, the party is expected to conduct balloting for positions on July 24, 2023, which will be followed by the publishing of the first notice of poll on July 25, 2023, and the national congress by the Special Electoral College on August 26, 2023.
Report on the conduct of the Special Electoral College to the National Council through the General Secretary will be done on August 28, 2023, whereas fresh balloting of the final five qualified candidates will take place on August 30, 2023.
Publication of the final notice of poll is scheduled for August 31, 2023, with the final congress set to come off Saturday, November 4, 2023 and run off, if any, on November 11, 2023.
The party has assured all of its commitment to hold free, fair, peaceful and transparent elections.
By Ernest Kofi Adu