19 Pick forms to contest NPP primaries in Upper West
Nineteen persons, including a single woman, have picked nominations forms to contest the parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 10 out of 11 constituencies of the Upper West Region.
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According to the party's regional executive, nominations for the remaining constituency— Nadowli-Kaleo—will not be opened until September.
"We have obtained permission from the national executive to delay the opening of nominations for just that constituency until September for strategic reasons. That's all I can say about it," Mr Hafiz Bin-Salih, the second Regional Vice-chairman of the party, told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) currently holds all the 11 parliamentary seats in the region, but it is only the Nadowli-Kaleo seat which has maintained a single occupant, since 1993 who is now the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin.
June 13 primaries
For the June 13 NPP primaries, however, businesswoman Janat Samsudeen remains the sole female candidate thus far after she joined four others in the race for the party's ticket in the Wa Central Constituency.
She faces competition from the party's constituency candidate in the 2012 election, Issahaku Tabir Moomin, and the assistant constituency secretary, Hamid Osman, who has resigned his post to contest the primaries, as well as Hadih Bawa and businessman Kapremanteng Mahama.
High profile candidates
Across the nine other constituencies, high profile candidates are bracing for interesting races in what is seen largely as a defining general election for the NPP in 2016.
That list includes former Deputy Attorney-General Ambrose Dery, former National Youth Organiser of the NPP, Anthony Karbo, university lecturers, former district chief executives and businessmen.
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While Mr Dery has filed as the sole candidate in NDC’s Dr Ben Kunbour's Nandom Constituency, Karbo and Dongtaa are the two so far in the race for the Lawra seat.
Bright Baligi, the Regional Secretary and a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, has resigned his party post to contest Stephen Delle for the Lambussie-Karni seat, while businessman Alhassan Kanton is daring 2012 constituency candidate Patrick Adama in a straight contest in Sissala West.
In Sissala East, Amidu Chinia, the 2012 candidate for the party, and Ridwan Dawud have picked nomination forms, while Godfred Tangu, a former Member of Parliament; Salifu Abdulai, a former Presiding Member of an assembly and Hudeed Ahmed, a businessman, are expected to contest the Wa East primaries.
In Wa West, former DCE Daniel Dari and Nuhu Mahama, a lecturer at the Cape Coast Polytechnic, are in a straight fight for the constituency candidacy.
Filing of nomination ends on April 30.