Boakye Agyarko, a potential flagbearer candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has declared his intention to skip the party’s special run-off election, which is set for September 2, 2023.
Mr. Boakye Agyarko claims that it is against the party’s constitution and election rules for the party’s Presidential Elections Committee to restrict the number of voters in the run-off election between himself and Francis Addai Nimoh.
“It is totally unacceptable to me that such an unconstitutional act can be perpetuated on the altar of expediency. Am I to surmise that the party did not know the cost implication?
“It is unconscionable that the rules of the game will be changed midstream. Rules and regulations that are flip-flopped in such a manner is only detrimental to fair play and justice.
“It is a clear violation of the party’s constitution and the guidelines for the Special Electoral college. It is an unconstitutional act which I cannot allow myself to be associated with.
“I refuse to be a part of such an act that seeks to unjustly truncate a previously agreed upon process, and cannot be part of what is about to be done on Saturday, 2nd September, 2023. I cannot, with a clear conscience make such an impermissible concession to such an errant decision.
“I THEREFORE, RESPECTFULLY, SERVE THIS NOTICE TO REFRAIN FROM SUCH A CONTEST,” he stated in a statement dated August 31, 2023.
On Saturday, August 26, 2023, the NPP held a special delegate election in order to reduce the field of candidates from ten to five as part of the procedures leading to the selection of a presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
Boakye Agyarko and Addai-Nimoh were tied for fifth place at the end of the election with 9 votes each.
The party’s Election Committee on August 30, 2023, announced that only a portion of the 955 delegates who voted last Saturday will be permitted to vote on September 2 in order to break the tie between the two candidates for the final flagbearer election scheduled for November 4, 2023.
In response, Mr. Agyarko claimed that the choice was actually made in an effort to sacrifice the party’s charter and approved election rules for expediency.
“The position of the run-off scheduled for Saturday, 2nd September, 2023 was reaffirmed by the Chairman of the Elections Committee during your address to the party after the first round of the Special College elections, where you stated that candidates who voted in the first round will be the ones to vote in the second round.
“The constitutional Special Electoral College with the mandate to short-list the list of aspirants is and can be none other than the full compliment listed under Article 13, Clause (9). It is not within the province or power of anybody to truncate this list and substitute it with anything else,” he stated.
