NPP National Council endorses Akufo-Addo flagbearer for 2020

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been endorsed as the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the National Council of the party.

He is expected to be acclaimed as the flagbearer of the party on a yet-to-be-announced date.

The General Secretary of the NPP, Mr John Boadu, made this known to the media yesterday after the party’s National Council and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings in Accra.

Endorsement

He said the National Council of the party endorsed President Akufo-Addo’s candidature after it accepted the report of the party’s National Vetting Committee which revealed that it was only President Akufo-Addo who had filed to contest as flagbearer of the party.

“The National Council of our party has accepted the report of the National Vetting Committee that indicated that at the opening and closing of nominations for the presidential candidature of our party, it was only one person, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who filed.

“The National Council has endorsed that decision that Nana Akufo-Addo is the sole candidate of the NPP and very soon we will communicate to the general public his acclamation,” Mr Boadu said.

Primaries

Mr Boadu also announced June 20, 2020 as the date on which the party would conduct its parliamentary primaries in the 168 constituencies where it had sitting Members of Parliament (MPs).

The primaries were originally scheduled for April 18, 2020 but had to be postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

He said the primaries would be conducted in electoral areas, instead of the previous format where delegates congregated at one venue to vote.

That, he said, was to prevent the massing up of many people at one venue to help curb the spread of the COVID-19.

“The party has decided that each parliamentary primary will come off on June 20, 2020 in all the 168 constituencies where we have sitting MPs. These primaries will be held at the various Electoral Commission mandated electoral areas in order to ensure that we respect the measures put in place by the government to product ourselves and prevent the spread of the COVID-19,” he added.

Mr Boadu said the party was convinced about holding successful primaries.

“We will later come up with rules and regulations guiding these parliamentary primaries and also the total list of members contesting on our ticket, as decided by the NEC,” he said.

Meeting

The NEC and the National Council meetings of the party were attended by the top brass of the party, including President Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, the National Chairman of the party, Mr Freddie Blay, as well as other national and regional executives of the party.

There were three separate meetings — the first being the regional chairmen meeting, followed by the NEC meeting and then the National Council meeting.

Analysis

President Akufo-Addo’s endorsement as the flagbearer of the NPP, as well as a new date for the parliamentary primaries, indicates that the stage is now set for the ruling party to slug it out with the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2020 elections.

Although the NDC has a flagbearer, it is yet to select its running mate, while it also has about 20 constituencies where it has not elected its parliamentary candidates.

Majority of the mainstream parties, such as the Convention People’s Party, the People’s National Convention, the Progressive People’s Party, the National Democratic Party, the Great Consolidated Popular Party and the All People’s Congress, are yet to elect their national executives and flagbearers, as well as parliamentary candidates.

Currently, there are 26 registered political parties.