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Some 47 parliamentary aspirants in the main opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) parliamentary race have been declared candidates even before the Saturday, 13 May 2023 internal polls started.
At a press conference on the eve of the polls, party chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said the 47 are aspirants who have no contenders, thus, automatically became candidates after having successfully been vetted.
This means there would be no parliamentary primaries in the constituencies of those 47 automatically-elected candidates.
“We have 47 aspirants who have already been declared candidates for our 2024 elections,” Mr Nketia told journalists, noting: “We have seen other places where people are contesting unopposed candidates by going to court to seek an injunction to prevent the parliamentary elections.”
“There is not going to be parliamentary elections in those places because our candidates have already been elected by law,” he emphasised.
Also, Mr Nketia said there would not be primaries held in some 16 other constituencies that need some special attention.
He explained that the party’s “preparation in those constituencies is not complete, so, we have decided to put them on hold.”
“After the main elections, we will appraise each constituency and deal with the specific issues there to pave the way for the elections,” he announced.
With the presidential primaries, two aspirants; former President John Mahama and former Kumasi mayor Kojo Bonsu, are in a straight fight after former finance minister Kwabena Duffuor pulled out of the race, citing “blatant irregularities” as his reason.
The primaries are currently underway across the country.
