NPP annuls diaspora proxy voting as “Team Kennedy” opposes proxy without affidavit
The NPP elections committee says all persons who opt for proxy voting must swear an affidavit in support of their application
The elections committee of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has decided to annul the option of proxy voting by delegates in the diaspora (external branches) following opposition by the campaign team of Kennedy Agyapong to allow proxy voters to submit their applications without the requirement of an affidavit in support of the submission for proxy voting.
Per the rules set by the NPP’s elections committee, all persons who would like to opt for the proxy voting option have to do so by swearing an affidavit in support of their application.
However, sources within the NPP who are familiar with data on the proxy voting applications received by the elections committee indicate that applicants who have so far submitted their proxy voting documents did so without attaching their affidavits.
Proxy voting rule
At a recent meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidate aspirants of the NPP, the elections committee decided to annul the entire diaspora proxy voting option because of disagreements between the candidates who attended the meeting.
Asaase News sources who attended the said meeting point out that while the representative of Kennedy Agyapong, at the meeting, Kwame Owusu, insisted that the submission of an affidavit to support a proxy voting application is part of the rules set down by the committee and it must stay so.
Difficult decision
On the other hand, the representative of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia at the committee meeting, Mr Sammi Awuku, told journalists that while their camp acknowledges that the affidavit requirement was part of the rules, it is alien to NPP internal elections.
“I don’t think that the committee should have pushed the party to that position. I don’t think the committee should be pushed by any of the aspirants to fill that if they do get this [has their way] then they will do this [oppose the way of the committee]. I don’t think that is fair” Awuku said.
“By this very decision, we are now nullifying the entire vote from the external branches because none of them added an affidavit and the deadline has elapsed” Sammi Awuku added while registering his displeasure with the election committee of the New Patriotic Party.
NPP’s presidential primaries
The over two hundred thousand (200,000) delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will, on Saturday, 4 November 2023, vote to elect the party’s presidential candidate for the December 2024 general elections.
Four aspirants are contesting for the candidature and they are the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central in the Central Region, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Minister for Food and Agriculture and Francis Addai-Nimoh, former NPP member of Parliament for the Mampong constituency in the Ashanti Region.
After balloting for their positions on the ballot paper ahead of the 4 November polls, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong picked the number one position on the ballot, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia picked the number two spot and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto and Francis Addai-Nimoh picked the third and fourth positions, respectively.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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