The view from here

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will tomorrow hold its novelty presidential and parliamentary primaries across the country. The party is using tomorrow’s national exercise to elect both its presidential and 275 parliamentary candidates to contest next year’s elections.

The Daily Graphic wishes the NDC fruitful deliberations and best of luck in this all-important national exercise. So far, the process leading to the primaries have generally been peaceful, though there have been a few regrettable incidents which could have been avoided.

Already, primaries cannot be held in Chiana Paga and Nkwanta South, as the party is trying to resolve outstanding issues there. We hope these issues are resolved timeously, so that those constituencies can have their turn at the primaries.

It is equally the expectation of the Daily Graphic that the NDC will go through its primaries successfully, without any acrimony and bitterness, and come out as a united family ready to prosecute its agenda towards the 2016 elections.

Contestants must also remember that there will be no victor or vanquished at the end of the primaries, so that the party will remain united in its quest to win Election 2016.

Since the primaries are part of the democratic processes of the party, losers must be gracious in defeat, accept and respect the results in good faith, while winners must be magnanimous in victory.

It is imperative for the party to rally behind their winners in their campaigns to garner the needed votes for the parliamentary and presidential elections next year.

In line with this, we would like to caution party members who will be voting to watch out for miscreants who will, out of mischief, try to cause confusion and mayhem during the primaries.

Lately, our political environment has become charged with intolerance, intimidation, threats on lives, among other challenges, which, if not curbed, will gradually erode the gains so far chalked up by the country in its democratic journey.

As stakeholders, we all have roles to play in maintaining and sustaining the gains of democracy, as well as continue to work to enjoy the global tag on the country as an oasis of peace.

Over the years, the NDC has demonstrated that it is a party founded on a strong foundation of peace and development, as advocated by President John Evans Atta Mills of blessed memory.

We think successful primaries will pay a glowing tribute to the memory of the late President and so we wish the entire NDC family successful primaries.