NPP Suspends Polls

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has suspended its polling station elections in three constituencies in the Ashanti region, namely Bekwai, Bosome Freho and Mampong. The National Women�s Organizer of the party, Madam Rita Asubayire, who is in charge of the exercise in the region, disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Guide newspaper on Thursday in Kumasi. She explained that the decision to suspend the exercise in the three constituencies was as a result of problems the exercise encountered in the areas. Madam Asubayire noted that the compilation and validation stages of the exercise generated pandemonium among supporters of the party in the mentioned constituencies. She explained that the compilation stage is the process of the gathering the names of known NPP members in the various polling stations, whereas, the validation stage is the process of making sure that the compiled names are really those of NPP members. The National Women�s Organizer pointed out that the compiled names of the known NPP members in the various polling stations would constitute the electoral college to elect the five executive members. Madam Asubayire indicated that the elections would be conducted in the three constituencies as soon as efforts to address the anomalies yield results. She disclosed that the elections which would be held in over 3,000 polling stations in the region would begin today and run till Monday October 5, 2009.According to her, five executive positions namely, chairman, secretary, organizer, women�s organizer and youth organizer would be contested for in each polling station. Madam Asubayire explained that elections would be conducted in polling stations where more than five persons will show up for the contest, whilst popular acclamation would be done in areas where only five persons avail themselves.Emphasizing that logistics required for the successful completion of the exercise were intact, she disclosed that a special body had been put in place to liaise with constituency officers to conduct the elections in each constituency. Following the unprecedented level of interest party supporters had shown in the exercise, Madam Asubayire predicted a keen contest in the polls in each of the polling stations.According to her, supporters of the party had not only shown interest in contesting the five executive positions at stake, but also expressed keen interest to be part of the Electoral College that would be responsible for the elections. The NPP National Women�s Organizer attributed the supporters� eagerness in the exercise to recent amendments in portions of the party�s constitution which henceforth, allows polling stations executives to be part of all decision making process in the party.