A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana has said that studies they have conducted show that New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, Alan Kyerematen, is the best option in the party to challenge the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, in the 2024 polls.
Speaking in a JoyNews interview, Prof Kobby Mensah said that even though Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Alan are the top two contenders for the NPP presidential candidate position, the party’s delegate believes strongly that the former (Alan) is the only person who can beat Mahama in the presidential election.
He added that for this reason, majority of NPP delegates have indicated they would be voting for Alan in the party’s main delegate congress on November 4, 2023, even though Dr Bawumia won the party’s Special Delegate Congress.
“The evidence that we have suggests that, yes, the two; that is Dr. Bawumia and Alan Kyerematen are very, very competitive. We expect that Alan Kyerematen would win on the basis that the party genuinely feel that he’s the most competitive.
“Because we’ve conducted a series of research, both from the delegate perspective and national perspective. All of them actually tips Alan Kyerematen as the leading candidate and the most competitive to NDC’s former President John Mahama,” he said.
Prof Mensah, a political marketing expert, added that this means that “if the delegates are actually going to look at the broader picture, the big picture, that is who is competitive and who can win them the election based on their own ‘break the eight’ philosophy then Alan Kyerematen can win.
Dr Mensah, however, noted that if other resources play a key role in the November primaries, as it did during the Special Delegate Conference, any person other than Alan might win the presidential candidate position of the NPP come November 4.
“Now, as I said earlier, there is evidence that resources is playing a key role in this election. And that’s why you find Vice President Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong actually tipping the two.
“If that scenario is played heavily in the coming November election, then that can actually change the dynamic. But if we are going with the key objective of the party, believing strongly that they can win 2024 and ‘break the eight’, then the suitable candidate that they would want to go for which evidently was played from the data would be Alan Kyerematen,” he said.
About the Special Delegate Conference:
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia emerged as the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party Super Delegates Conference.
Per the results, Dr Bawumia garnered 629 votes representing 68.15 percent of the total votes cast. The results are based on figures collated by 17 out of 17 voting centres across the country.
Behind him is Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong who polled 132 votes representing 14.30 percent while Alan Kyerematen polled 95 votes representing 10.29 percent in the elections which took place on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot for the party’s presidential primaries with 36 votes representing 3.90%.
Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh tied in the 5th position with 9 votes each representing 0.98%.
Other candidates who contested in the elections were Joe Ghartey with 4 votes, Kwadwo Poku with 3 votes, Kwabena Agyepong with 5 votes and Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku failed to secure a single vote.
The Super Delegates Conference is aimed at reducing the pool of contenders vying for the party’s presidential candidacy in the upcoming 2024 general election.
Ten candidates from the NPP participated in the race, with the objective of selecting five candidates who will proceed to another round of voting in November this year
The final round will determine the substantive candidate of the NPP for the presidential election ahead of the 2024 general elections.
