NPP has no plans to impose candidates

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, has assured the rank and file of his party that the leadership will not consider any proposal for the imposition of candidates at the parliamentary or presidential levels.

According to the NPP Chairman, among the plans being considered includes holding "various levels of internal party elections together and hold them early to minimise internal wrangling, save cost and give the party considerable time to focus exclusively, without self-inflicting distractions, on taking power away from the NDC in 2016.”

Jake debunked claims that he was rushing into electing a flagbearer and protecting MPs instead of finding out what went wrong for the party in 2016.

He said the proposals under consideration were all coming out of experiences and lessons from the- December 2012 elections, adding that the party had, after the 2012 elections, undertaken a very comprehensive examination ever of what happened on polling day.

"It is about how to strengthen our electoral machinery in 2016 and they are not being made to 2016," Jake said.

He said he welcomes the debate but believes there is more to be done to make it more informed.

One of the proposals being considered by the party, the New Statesman can exclusively reveal, is to hold first the Presidential Primary, the selection of parliamentary candidates, and constituency executives’ elections, all on the same day.

Shortly afterwards, the idea is to follow that set of elections with both the regional and national executives elections being held simultaneously on another day.

This, according to Jake, will help reduce the negative phenomenon of prolonged “organised acrimony”, with the added advantage of reducing the period and costs of internal contests, which often leaves candidates with very little money for general elections which is of utmost importance.