Here are 4 quick facts you’d want to ‘knowte’ (Know and Note) in the upcoming Primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
First of all, let’s see what it means for a party to say we are organizing ‘Primaries’?
Primary elections are pre-general elections organized internally by the various political parties to elect candidates who will contest various positions in the country that demands elections (casting of votes). In the case of Ghana, primaries are organized by the various political parties to;
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- Elect individuals who will contest the various parliamentary seats in the country for representation in the legislative arm of government; Parliament.
- Elect that one person who will run as presidential candidate for the party in a bid to win the general elections and rule the country as president and form government as a party.
There are also special cases like by-elections where upon the death or resignation of a sitting MP, the political parties have a chance of presenting new candidates who will contest for that seat. Again, the interested political parties will organize primaries (internal party elections) for interested individuals to come up and be voted on as the person they are going to run with in the by-election for the constituency’s seat.
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So the primary elections are simply elections within a party to elect one person who will be the party’s candidate in the general elections. In such elections, not all party members vote. The voting rights lies in the hands of party executives at the various administrative levels (Polling Station to Regional Executives). These voters are called Delegates. Delegates may also include some special members of the party. In this case of the NPP, Patrons of the party at the various administrative levels as well as council of elders and some pioneers of the party are also eligible to vote as delegates.
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That said and done, lets take a look at four quick facts in the New Patriotic Party’s upcoming primary elections.
- Vice-President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, is president Akuffo Addo’s Running Mate. According to the President, there was no need thinking about who to select as his running mate aside Dr Bawumia. Together, this is the fourth time they are seeking the party’s endorsement to win the Presidential elections on behalf of the party to form government. They went together in 2008, 2012,2016 and now in 2020.
- Confirmed! President Akuffo-Addo is the only person vying for presidential candidate. He filed his forms last Thursday at the NPP’s headquarters in Accra. Per the party’s regulations, he is to be declared unanimously as the party’s flag bearer in the forth-coming 2020 Presidential Elections after their extra-ordinary delegates conference to be conducted across the country on the 25th of April.
- The elections like pointed out earlier are for individuals in the party who will want to be the party’s candidate in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections against the other contesting political parties. It is like selecting you best players to face your opponents in a football match. The primaries becomes the ‘Justify your inclusion’ and the general elections, the final match.
- The elections will be organized in constituencies where the party has sitting members of parliament. This means that individuals who come up to be elected for are looking forward to replace the incumbent members of the party who are in parliament. Should they be vote for, the sitting members of parliament will not be able to run as parliamentary candidates in the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Election; that is if these sitting MP’s want to run again. Thus, these sitting members of parliament will no more be in parliament till they are voted for in the next primaries. The party currently has a total of 169 sitting members of parliament. Earlier in 2019, they had same primaries in remaining 106 constituencies they tagged “Orphan Constituenies” because the party currently has no sitting MP’s there.
- Date for the primaries is 25th April, 2020 and will take place in all the 169 constituencies.
- President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo is the only person who has picked forms to contest as the presidential candidate of the party in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Elections.
