The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has granted its flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, additional time to select his running mate for the upcoming elections.
The party’s constitution usually requires the vice presidential candidate to be chosen one year before elections.
However, considering Dr Bawumia’s relatively recent election as flagbearer, the party leadership has chosen to waive this requirement.
The party’s National Council, which has the power to make exceptions to the party’s rules, agreed with Dr Bawumia’s request to pick his running mate later.
This means that Dr Bawumia will have more time to consider his options and pick the best person to be his running mate.
Addressing the press after a national council meeting on Thursday, General Secretary of the party Justin Frimpong Kodua noted that the national council agreed with the request of the party’s flagbearer.
“In line with our constitution, particularly about article 13 (32)- ‘the vice presidential candidate shall be a known and active member at least five years and shall be nominated by the presidential candidate at least 12 months before general elections when the party is not in government or the president is not the candidate.’
“The National Council may, however, dispense with this requirement under special circumstances. From the interpretation of this article, it presupposes that today should have been the day our leader of the party and our presidential candidate should have presented his running mate to the national council.”
“However, upon request from the presidential candidate that because his election was done on the 4th of November 2023, he needs a bit of time to continue with his consultation before he brings the proposed name for running mate to the national council,” he said.
