Votes displayed will be nullified — NPP Elections Committee

Any cast ballot that will be publicly displayed shall be nullified in the November 4 presidential primary, the Presidential Elections Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said.

It directed the police to arrest persons who would indulge in such acts on election day.

This was contained in the operational guidelines released by the committee last Friday (September 22, 2023) for the conduct of the polls to elect a flag bearer of the party for the 2024 general election.

Some of the key rules in the guidelines are the ban on camping of delegates on the day of voting, campaigning, canvassing for votes or gathering of party people for any purpose whatsoever a day before voting.

It said the Electoral Commission (EC) is to supervise the conduct of the election and to ensure a transparent, free and fair election while security activities rested exclusively with the police.

Per the guidelines, voting would take place in all the 276 constituencies nationwide and the party headquarters, Asylum Down, Accra bringing the total number of voting centres to 277.

It added that the EC shall recommend venues as voting centres across the country in each constituency capital, and the proposed voting centres shall be discussed and accepted by all stakeholders.

Delegates

About 200,000 delegates are expected to cast their votes in the election and voting would commence at 7 a.m. and close at 2 p.m.

It said the delegates for the election are made up of all members of the National Council, National, Regional and Constituency Executive Committees, Electoral Area Coordinators, five polling station executives in each polling station (Chairman, Secretary, Organiser, Youth and Women Organisers).

The others are 15 members of the National Council of Elders to be elected from among themselves, Members of Parliament (MP), Past National Officers, three representatives of each of the special organs of the party (Women Organisers, Nasara and Youth wings), 12 delegates from every external branch (27 branches in all).

The rest are Founding members who were signatories to the registration documents of the party at the EC, one TESCON representative from each recognised tertiary institution, all party card-bearing ministers and deputies, and all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. 

Election

The guidelines said for a contestant to be validly elected, a contestant must obtain more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

"Where, however, no candidate obtains more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes cast, there shall be a run-off between the first two contestants, and the contestant with simple majority shall be the party's presidential candidate.

If two leading contestants obtain the same number of votes but fail to obtain more than a 50 per cent threshold, a run-off election will be conducted to resolve the tie.

The entire delegates will vote to break the tie.

In a statement issued and signed by the Secretary to the committee, William Yamoah, said the guidelines were formulated after extensive discussions and consultations with various stakeholders, including the presidential aspirants.

"We acknowledge with sincere gratitude the unwavering cooperation from all stakeholders as we pursue an equitable, impartial and transparent process to elect a presidential candidate for the 2024 general election," it concluded.