A former Upper West Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Abdulai Issahaku, has suggested that the candidate who emerges as the first runner-up in the party's future presidential primaries should automatically become the running mate to the flag bearer.
He said reserving that position for a Muslim or a person of Northern extraction had not brought the required votes from the people in the north and Muslims and it would, therefore, be fruitless if the party continued do so in future elections.
"Whoever comes second to the eventual flag bearer in our future presidential primaries, whether he or she is an Akan, a Ga or an Ewe, we should not hesitate to endorse such a person as the running mate," he said during an interaction with newsmen in Wa at the weekend. Alhaji Issahaku observed that if his proposal was accepted, it would go a long way to save the party from excessive lobbying for that position, which had not helped the unity of the party in the recent past. He opposed the proposal for a constitutional amendment to expand the party's Electoral College for the election of the its flag bearer for the next election, saying it was unnecessary, since the party won two elections with its current constitution.
"Our party won elections in 2000 and retained power in 2004 with this constitution which was drawn when we were in opposition. Why should we rush to expand the Electoral College just because we have lost power? "What we have to do now is assess our performance and find the factors that led to the loss of power. I do not think we lost because the present electoral arrangement in our constitution did not serve its purpose," he said.
Alhaji Issahaku said he believed the party contested the last elections without unity, adding that there had been open rivalry within the rank and file which made it unattractive to floating voters. He said what should be of great concern now was how the party could work out strategies to bring members together to work for victory in 2012, not any extensive amendment of the NPP constitution.
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