The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it has initiated steps to unite its front in the Klottey Korley constituency following deep-seated division, after Philip Addison was elected the party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the November polls in a re-run.
Scores of delegates have pressurized failed parliamentary aspirant, Nii Noi Nortey, to contest as an independent candidate since in their view, the process was skewed to go against him.
Addison polled 396 out of the 765 votes cast to beat Nii Noi Nortey, who polled 367 votes.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Ti6jEcDYOHqgqsBwOkmRvRk9NeyPDdGx”]Calls for Nii Noi to go independent went viral following accusations by some delegates that the electoral process was skewed to favour lawyer Addison.
But speaking to Citi News, the acting General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, said Nii Noi Nortey will stay with the party and help capture the Klottey Korley seat from the NDC despite his defeat.
“On Klottey Korle, I think that whoever emerges as a winner or a loser will have some comments to make and we are well aware of it so we have put together some strategies to resolve those issues. Very soon you will hear from him[Nii Noi Nortey] that all those things that are attributed to him are not true because he is a true NPP member and he will not allow himself to be deceived by people who are pushing him to take a decision that will affect his fortunes. So it will be resolved and I think calm will return to that constituency. We are sure that victory in that constituency will be ours.”
Nii Noi Nortey won first primary
Nii Noi had been elected winner in a previous primary held in 2015. In that primary, Philip Addison, who was lead counsel for the NPP’s 2012 election, polled a meager 22 votes, while Nii Nortey polled 393 votes.
Nii Adjei Tawiah, a third contestant, had 19 votes. But the two were unhappy with the outcome because they had boycotted the election after their demand for a change in the election date was rejected.
They appealed to the party to address their concerns internally, but that failed, forcing them to go to court.
Eventually, the ruling by the court although a bit unclear, meant that a re-run was inevitable.
–
By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah