NANA TIPPED…To Win NPP Race
The seven aspirants
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) goes to polls on Sunday to elect five out of seven aspirants contesting for the flagbearership position of the party at a Special Delegates' Congress to be held simultaneously in all regional capitals across the country, with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo highly tipped to win.
The presidential hopefuls, apart from Nana Akufo-Addo are former Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen; former Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman West, Stephen Asamoah Boateng; incumbent MP for Mampong, Francis Addai-Nimoh; MP for Essikado-Ketan and second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Ghartey; MP for Asuogyaman, Kofi Osei- Ameyaw and former MP for Offinso North, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku.
Two of these gentlemen would automatically crash out of the race after voting, with the remaining five getting to slug it out for the ultimate prize in the main congress slated for October 18, 2014.
Lots of predictions have come up ahead of the polls, with individuals and groups tipping their preferred candidates as likely to emerge victorious.
But as the election enters homestretch, the other aspirants have now narrowed their chances to being part of the five people to cross to the next level.
According to DAILY GUIDE sources, some of the aspirants are begging the delegates to make them part of the five in order not to score zero in the Sunday super congress, as recorded in the overseas branch elections.
Spokesperson for Alan Kyerematen, Nana Ohene Ntow, who earlier boasted that his candidate would cause a 'tsunami', has now toned down, saying that Mr Kyerematen would be among the five aspiring candidates to be voted for in Sunday's Super Delegates Congress.
Ohene Ntow, told Joy Fm that having been satisfied with preparations and responses from supporters during their tour of the regions, Alan would make it in the top five.
Predictions Various opinion polls and surveys conducted ahead of the elections seem to put Nana Akufo-Addo ahead of his six other colleagues. Some, especially from the Alan camp, have sought to downplay the relevance of these polls and their possible effect on the outcome of Sunday's elections on the ground that not all those who participated in those elections would get to vote in the Special Delegates Congress.
Interestingly, however, US-based research group, Research International (RI), gave a significant advantage to the two-time flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whom it estimates would sweep the NPP congress by an average of 80%, with his
closest rival and former Minister of Trade, Alan Kyerematen taking the second spot with a paltry 10% of the votes, while the four other contestants battle for the remaining 10%.
Polls
Apart from a poll conducted by the research group, various elections conducted by external branches of the party among its members also put the man in a commanding lead ahead of his fellow contestants, making tomorrow's exercise a mere formality.
So far, polls conducted in countries like United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Denmark and Belgium among card-bearing members of the NPP have all put Nana Akufo-Addo way ahead of his challengers.
In the polls conducted in Belgium and Italy branches, Nana Addo had an emphatic 100%, with Denmark and Germany giving him 95%. The United Kingdom chapter voted 92% for Nana Addo while graciously dishing 8% to Alan Kyerematen and Stephen Asamoah- Boateng to share.
In some overseas countries, contestants such as Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Joe Ghartey, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Kofi Osei Ameyaw and Francis Addai-Nimoh were not able to garner even a single vote.
Belgium and Italy recorded 100% for Akufo- Addo while Denmark saw him securing 95%, with Alan getting 5%.
Results of the poll conducted by the China branch of the party came in on Wednesday, with a virtual endorsement of similar elections
in other external branches.
Apart from the Shenyang and Xiamen Chapters of the party, all other chapters voted 100% for Nana Akufo-Addo.
The overseas voting, which started on the 20th of August and ended on the 26th of August across all the chapters, was meant to sample the opinion of majority of the members to inform the delegates who would be voting on behalf of the branch at Sunday's event.
Results for the Shenyang Chapter saw Nana Akufo- Addo obtaining 66.7% of the total votes cast while Alan Kyerematen obtained 33.3%, with the other contestants obtaining no votes.
At the Xiamen Chapter, Nana Addo obtained 89.5%; Alan Kyeremanten obtained 5.3% while Joe Ghartey had 5.3%, with the others obtaining no votes.
Overall, members of the NPP China Branch voted overwhelmingly for Nana Addo as their preferred candidate for the flagbearer
position with an approval rating of 85.4% of all votes cast.
Compromise Should Sunday's elections go the way the preliminary polls have suggested, with landslide victory for Nana Akufo-Addo or whoever wins with an overwhelming majority, some leading members of the party have stressed the need for the remaining contestants to rally around the one with the majority votes for the sake of party unity and save NPP the trouble of going through another hurdle of a congress.
Others have however disagreed with this suggestion, asking that the tenets of democracy must be made to prevail.
In all, 787 eligible voters are expected to vote in the elections with each aspirant expected to have a maximum of two agents at the various polling stations littered across all 10 regions in the country and one agent at the collation centre at the strong room of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Sunday's Special Delegates' Congress of the NPP therefore promises to be interesting, considering the enthusiasm it has generated
among the rank and file of the party, as the rest of the country watches with a keen eye
BY Charles Takyi-Boadu