Running Mate NPP Stands The Risk Of Defeat If Group Warns

A civil Society Group, Alliance For Elections Watchers says the ruling New Patriotic Party stands the risk of dwindling electoral fortunes if it does not allow the Vice President and Presidential Candidate, His Excellency Dr Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia the free hands to select his running mate.

The group has also questioned the basis upon which a survey supposedly testing the preferability of certain individuals as running mates for the ruling New Patriotic Party presidential candidate, Dr Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia, was conducted.

Describing such a survey as unnecessary and unscientific,  the group argues that it is not politically prudent to decide who to select as a running mate for a particular candidate when individuals have not officially put themselves up for the contest.

"The results of such survey is fundamentally flawed for several reasons" the group contended in a statement signed by its coordinator, Dr Frank Opoku Mensah - further stressing the running mate position is not a contested slot to be vied by individuals.

According to the group, such reports only put undue pressure on the presidential candidate who requires a sound independent mind to make an informed decision on who he prefers to partner with.

"In any case let's not forget that Dr. Bawumia himself was not selected based on a national survey neither did he engage in a media blitz to catch the attention of then flagbearer, Nana Akufo Addo " it noted in a statement released in response to the alleged survey.

The Alliance For Elections Watchers therefore warned that the NPP stands the risk of losing its electoral fortunes if it does not give the flagbearer the free hands to select his preferred choice.

"We know Dr. Bawumia is not oblivious of the fact that selecting a running mate goes beyond just what some few individuals and media personalities will say, otherwise he (Bawumia) himself wouldn't have been selected in the first place let alone get the slot the second time by Candidate Akufo Addo" the group observed.