A member of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign team has advised two NPP presidential aspirants who tied for fifth place in the super delegates conference to reconsider going for a run-off.
Francis Addai Nimo and Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko on Saturday got nine votes each representing 0.98% of the votes cast. The party is expected to hold a tie-breaker to decide the fifth person joining the race.
But speaking on The Probe on JoyNews, Frederick Opare Ansah stated that it would be more rewarding for one or both of them to pull out of the presidential race to not only save the party the efforts of reorganising another conference but also prevent financial stress.
“I would wish, for instance, the two who placed fifth – and the party is now going to decide whether to have a run-off or not – to assess the situation and decide for themselves whether indeed they want to put the party through this.”
“The emotions, the campaigning, the race, and the cost and whether it is prudent to fight for fifth position as it were. Sometimes it might be smarter to pull out at this time and let the party hail you for saving it all the struggle than to really go through only to prove a point,” he said.
Mr Ansah urged Mr Addai Nimo and Mr Agyarko to hold discussions among themselves and choose the best way forward.
He explained that it is in their best interest to reconsider and assess whether the fifth-place position is worth pursuing especially since there is a national conference ahead to determine the flagbearer.
“I have been a member of somebody’s team before in 2014 and 31st August came and I did advise that I think where we are it might be prudent to pull out. Yes, but we didn’t. We continued and we slayed from 8% to 4%. So when it gets to this point, it is important and prudent to sit and do a proper assessment of the situation before taking a further step forward.”
Background
Four presidential candidates successfully sailed through in the just-ended New Patriotic Party’s Super Delegates Conference to shortlist five flagbearer aspirants.
Although the Super Delegates Conference was expected to help select five candidates, two candidates have tied, requiring another process to decide the fifth candidate to make the final five.
The Vice President led with 68.15% of the total votes cast, followed by Kennedy Agyapong who polled 15.03% of the total votes cast.
Alan Kyerematen came in third with 10.29% of the total votes cast, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto came fourth with 3.90%.
But, Francis Addai Nimo and Boakye Kyeremateng Ayarko tied for fifth place.
Speaking to the media at the party headquarters, Prof Mike Oquaye, chairman of the NPP Presidential vetting committee, said that the tie-breaker will be held on Saturday September 2.
