The New Patriotic Party (NPP) plans to profile potential parliamentary candidates early in constituencies without sitting MPs to stop aspirants from spending heavily on campaigns that may ultimately fail.
Nana Akomea, the party’s newly elected Third Vice Chairperson, said the NPP now has time to assess the demographics of these constituencies deliberately before selecting candidates. “We have a bit of time now to look at the demography of each of the orphan constituencies,” he told Accra Posts.
The party aims to use constituency-level demographic reports to decide which candidates have the best chance of winning. “The constituency party will bring us reports about the demography, and they would suggest that for this constituency, if we get a candidate from this demography, it will help us,” Akomea said.
This approach intends to discourage prospective candidates who do not fit the demographic profile from investing money and time in campaigns that are unlikely to succeed. “So when that determination is done early, then somebody who is not from that demography will not go and waste time to go and campaign, spend money, and then later on you decide that oh, he may not win,” he added.
Akomea acknowledged the difficulty this might cause for aspirants who have already built support networks and emotional ties to their campaigns. “But then he’s already invested money. He’s already got followers. His emotions involved,” he said.
The strategy is not new to the NPP. Akomea said the party used similar profiling ahead of the 2000 elections, reserving the coastal area of Accra for candidates of Ga ethnicity. “That is profiling, and so on. So it is not new,” he noted.
The difference now is the scale and deliberate nature of the exercise. “It’s that we’re going to do it on a scale that is more deliberate and that is more fulfilling,” he said.
Akomea linked the profiling strategy to the NPP’s internal reorganisation, which included selecting its flagbearer well before the 2028 elections. “We’ve secured for ourselves the blessing of time by selecting our flagbearer early,” he said. This early decision has reduced internal tensions and freed the party to concentrate on parliamentary preparations.
“Now there isn’t any emotion because we’ve already settled that high price. So we’ve composed ourselves,” Akomea added.
He said the next major task is to get the parliamentary strategy right, especially in constituencies without sitting MPs. “There are a lot more orphan constituencies. You don’t want to leave it free for all,” he said.
The available time should allow the NPP to be more deliberate about who represents the party in those constituencies. “Now that we have a bit of time, you can be more deliberate about the people to represent the party in the constituencies,” Akomea said.
This move comes as the NPP faces increased competition in areas where it lacks incumbents. The early profiling could shape the party’s chances in the 2028 elections by narrowing contests before campaigns escalate.
According to Joy Online.
