Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party has concluded a conference to select five of its ten candidates to contest the intra-party elections for the presidency, the electoral commission said.
In a poll of 961 delegates for whom 17 polling stations opened, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the current Vice President of the country, came first by a significant margin. He secured the first spot with 629 votes, representing 68.1%.
Second place in the ballot went to Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who garnered 132 votes (14.3%). Ohene Agyapong now chairs the Communication Committee in Parliament, under the current presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo.
Alan Kyerematen, former minister of trade and industry and ex-Ambassador of Ghana to the US, secured third place in the polls with 95 votes (10.2%). Coming fourth in the election was Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie, the former agriculture minister, who was supported by 36 votes representing 3.9%.
The New Patriotic Party is expected to conduct a run-off on September 2 between Addai-Nimoh and Agyarko to select the fifth possible flagbearer of the body.
The current NPP leader and President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, took over as head of state for the first time in 2017. He was re-elected in 2021 for a second term, which draws to an end in 2024.
The President of Ghana is elected by an absolute majority of votes in two rounds of voting and holds office for 4 years with two possible terms.