NPP Special Congress: How National Council voted on decentralisation decision

It has emerged that the decision to keep the National Congress of the Special Electoral College of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) decentralised was put to vote at Thursday’s meeting of the National Council.

Nine out of the 10 flagbearer aspirants were said to have filed a petition, demanding the Congress to be centralised.

According to the aggrieved aspirants, it would be a waste of resources to hold the special congress, which will slash five of them out of the race, in the 16 regions.

They also claim holding the National Congress at one location will afford them an opportunity to address delegates before voting.

The contentious demands were voted against at Thursday’s meeting of the National Council, which decides on dates and venues of presidential primaries.

According to 3news.com sources, nine voted in favour of centralisation and 73 voted against it.

The 73-9 majority decision meant the status quo – as trialed in 2014 – was maintained.

Another decision that was put to a vote was for delegates to select five instead of one out of the 10 aspirants during the August 26 congress.

Yet again, a 35-4 majority decision maintained the status quo of voting one person out of the 10 qualified aspirants per delegate.

An Election Committee has also been set up to oversee modalities of the exercise up till Saturday, November 4 when the 2024 flagbearer will be selected.

The Committee will be chaired by former Speaker of Parliament Reverend Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye.