The Presidential Elections Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has released the guidelines and regulations for the forthcoming November 4, 2023, presidential primaries.
According to the Committee, these guidelines have been formulated after extensive discussions and consultations with various stakeholders, including the presidential aspirants.
Read the release below
It is important to note that all the presidential aspirants and the Elections Committee have jointly approved the Guidelines as an acceptable document for the conduct of the November 4, 2023, presidential primaries.
We acknowledge with sincere gratitude the unwavering cooperation from all stakeholders as we pursue an equitable, impartial, and transparent process to elect a presidential candidate for the 2024 general elections.
Thank you.
NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (NPP)
OPERATIONAL GUIDELINESFOR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 42023, ELECTION
Introduction:
1. T h e s e guidelines outline the procedures and rules for the November :4 2023, Election ot e l e c t a Presidential candidate for the 2024 general election.
2. The Electoral Commission of Ghana shall supervise the conduct of the elections and, shall have the full responsibility of ensuring a transparent, free and fair election. No persons, whether government, party official or otherwise whatsoever, shall act in contravention to the Electoral Commission and this guidelines.
3. Security activities rest exclusively with the police and access beyond security perimeters is restricted to Delegates, Presidential Elections Committee Members, Contestants and their accredited agents.
4. The Presidential Elections Committee of the Party is the entity with the Constitutional mandate from National Council to oversee the organization and conduct of the election for the Presidential Candidate.
5. The election will take place on Saturday, November 4, 2023, at all the 276 constituencies nationwide and the Party Headquarters, Asylum Down, Accra (277 voting centers in all).
6. In effect, there shall be one Voting Center in each Constituency Capital
Nationwide.
7. The Electoral Commission shall be mandated to recommend venues as Voting Centers across the country in each Constituency Capital. The proposed Voting Centers shall be discussed and accepted by all stakeholders. In case of disagreement, the Presidential Elections Committee shall decide on the venue.
8. A Voting Center can have more than one polling station but on the same premises, depending on the number of delegates. The threshold shall ton exceed one thousand (1000) delegates.
9. There will be no congregation on the day of voting. Therefore there shall be no provision to address delegates or the public by any National Party Executive, any Government Official, Regional Party executive, Constituency Executives, Contestants or their representatives on the day of the voting.
10. There shall be no campaign, canvassing for votes or gathering of party people for any purpose whatsoever a day before voting.
11.There shall be no camping of delegates.
12.Accreditation is constituency specific.
13.The media will be granted accreditation.
14. Voters are expected to “walk-in” freely by themselves. The physically
challenged may be assisted. A voter must wait to be cleared before entering the perimeter
15.No voter shall wear the colour or effigy of a contestant at the voting center (i.e. T-shirts, cap, posters of contestants).
16. Delegates shall not be allowed to enter the voting screen or booth in groups or in pairs.
17. Voting shall not take place indoors but in an open place in the full glare of the public. It is an offence for unaccredited persons to enter the voting perimeter.
18. A delegate who has already cast his/her vote shall not be re-admitted into the voting perimeter.
19. Any person found directing a delegate on which contestant to vote for commits an offence and shall be removed by the police.
20. No contestant will appoint government officials or any delegate listed to vote in the Presidential elections as agents.
For the purpose of clarity, such officials include, but are not limited to, MMDCEs, Members of Parliament, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, CEOs of state-owned enterprises, Managing Directors of Government institutions, Regional Executives, Constituency Executives, Electoral Area Coordinators and Polling Station Executives.
21. ALL VOTERS SHALL LEAVE THE DEMARCATED VOTING PERIMETERS IMMEDIATELY AFTER VOTING.
22.The Electoral Commission and the Police shall enforce and adhere ot restricting delegates from taking their phones and other electronic photographic gadgets to the voting screen.
23. Delegates shall not take phones to the voting perimeters and it is an offence to take a picture of any vote or show to any person or to the public who a person has voted. The police shall arrest such a person.
24. Agents of the Contestants are allowed or permitted to have their phones.
25.Any vote that had been shown to the public shall be nullified.
26.The Electoral Commission shall use complex serial numbers to avoid ballots
being traced to voters at a later date.
27.The Electoral Commission and the Police shall deny influencers, “Machomen” and undesignated persons access to the voting centers. All such persons shall be arrested with dispatch.
28.The Electoral voting shall be by a walk-in standard practice- the individual shall approach the polling area and vote secretly.
i. Presiding officers shall not call out names fo delegates in the queue to vote.
ii. Individuals will walk to the official and they will be assisted to vote accordingly.
iii. No delegate shall be escorted to the voting screen except those with issues and with Electoral Commission consent.
iv. Presiding officers shall issue ballots toone delegate at a time. For the purpose of emphasis, Presiding officers shall not issue ballots to people in pairs orgroups of persons.
V. Ballot papers should not be torn from any booklet in advance.
vi. Both valid and rejected ballots will be securely placed inside the designated ballot boxes and subsequently sealed with seals of the contestants. Hence, no person or official can know how any voter voted. No person will have authority to break the seals for any purpose whatsoever except by an order of the High Court.
vii. These sealed ballot boxes shall be in safe custody at Electoral Commission for 14 days and if there is no contest from any contestant, the Electoral Commission shall destroy the ballots.
COMPOSITION OF DELEGATES
29. According to the NPP constitution Article 13(11), the November 4, Presidential Election shall comprise the following delegates:
i.
i.
V. vi.
vil.
viii. ix. X. xi.
xii.
i. All members of the National Council
ii. All voting members of the National Executive Committee
iii. All voting members of the Regional Executive Committee
iv. All voting members of the Constituency Executive Committees.
v. All Electoral Area Coordinators
vi. The five (5) Polling Station Executive Officers in each Polling Station. These are Chairman, Secretary, Organizer, Youth Organizer, and Women Organizer.
vii. Fifteen (15) Members of the National Council of Elders to be elected
from amongst themselves
viii. Fifteen (15) Patrons to be elected from among themselves
ix. All Party Members ofParliament
Past National Officers
x. Three (3) representatives of each of the special organs of the Party- Women organizers, Nasara and Youth wing.
xi. Twelve (12) delegates from every external branch (27 Branches in all)
xiii. Founding Members who were signatories tothe registration documents of the Party at the Electoral Commission
xiv. One (1) TESCON representative from each recognized tertiary institution
XV. All Party Card bearing Ministers and Deputy Ministers
xvi. All MMDCEs
30.Every delegate shall be entitled to one vote and must cast his/her vote for a single contestant.
31. To be validly elected, a contestant must obtain more than fifty percent (50%) of the total valid votes cast.
32.Where, however, no candidate obtains more than fifty percent 5(0%) fo het total valid votes cast, there shall be a run-off between the first two (2) contestants, and the contestant with simple majority shall be the Party’s Presidential Candidate.
Issue of Tie in the Presidential Election
33.In the event that two leading contestants obtain the same number of votes but fail to obtain more than 50% threshold, a run-off election will be conducted to resolve the tie. The entire delegates will vote to break the tie.
34.In the event that one contestant secures the highest number of votes without reaching more than 50% threshold, where two other contestants tie off second place in a situation where the first contestant does not obtain more than 50%, a run-off election will be conducted to determine the winner who shall then contest a run-off to select the final winner.
A date shall be set ofr the same delegate to vote to select a winner. If a tie should re-occur, a ballot supervised by Electoral Commission shall be conducted.
35. Voting offences shall include the following:
a. To vote or attempt to vote more than once.
b. To buy or sell a vote
c. To compel somebody to vote in a particular way
d. To obstruct a delegate from freely exercising his or her right ot vote e. To display your marked ballot paper.
f. It is an offence to take a photo of how you voted in any particular way
Proxy Application Process
I. There shall beproxy voting and the opening of proxy application is Monday, October 9, 2023.
II. The deadline for the submission of proxy application si Friday, October 13, 2023, at 5:00 pm.
III. To successfully file for a proxy, one should show prof of ABSENCE or cause of one’s inability to be physically present at the voting center.
IV. An affidavit or a declaration from a Commissioner of Oath must accompany every application.
V. Proxy list will be published for public information and verification.
VI. Any false affidavit is a criminal offence and will be reported to appropriate authorities when a challenge is raised
VII. Only Delegates to the main Congress who are themselves eligible to voet, shall have the right to vote by proxy.
VIII. Successful proxy applicants shall have “proxy inscription” affixed on the photos in the Album and the assigned proxy voter would eb highlighted.
Voter Register (Album):
36.The Party shall generate the Voter Register for the Presidential Elections Committee and same shall be submitted to the Electoral Commission and the Presidential Contestants.
Validated Album (Voter Register):
37.To ensure utmost transparency and credibility, the Elections Committee shall make the validated Album (voter register) available to al participating contestants no later than Wednesday, October 4, 2023. This provision allows one week for thorough examination and verification of the album before the
election date.
38.The following categories of Delegates shall vote at the various Centers as indicated;
a. National Headquarters Centre
i. National Council and National Executive Committee Membesr
i . National Council of Elders iii. Patrons
iv. Past National Executives
v. Sector Ministers and Deputy Ministers who are non-MPs
vi. External Branch Delegates
vii. Special Wings Delegates
b. 276 Constituency Voting Centres
i. Founding Members
ii. Regional Executive Committee Members
iii. Members o f Parliament
iv. Regional Representatives to National Council
v. Regional Ministers
vi. All voting members of the Regional Executive Committee
vii. All voting members of the Constituency Executive Committees
viii. All Electoral Area Coordinators
ix. The five (5) Polling Station Executive Officers ni hcae Polling Station
X. All Party Members of Parliament
xi. Founding Members who are signatories to the registration
documents o f the Party at the Electoral Commission
xii. One (1) TESCON representative from each recognized tertiary institution
xiii. All MMDCEs
39.All Regional Executive Committee members shal cast their votesni a designated constituency within the regional capital.
40.TESCON representatives shall cast their votes in constituencies where their respective institutions are located.
Dispute Resolution:
41.All disputes, if any, arising from this process shall be referred ot the Presidential Elections Committee for prompt and amicable resolution.
42. Persons whose names are not in the Album shall be disallowed ot vote.
Acceptable Forms ofIdentification Documents
43.Delegates of the Presidential Election shall as proof of identification who either the Party Membership Identity (I.D) Cards, National Voters I.D Cards, Ghana Card or Passport.
Polling Time
44.The poll will start at 7:00 am and close at 2:00 pm at each center.
Polling Agents
45. Each contestants will have two (2) Accredited Agents but One
at each Polling Station would represent a contestant at all times.
46.Counting & Declaration of Results:
a. Ballots will be counted and results announced immediatelv after the close
of poll at each Voting Center.
b. The Presiding Officer at the Voting Center will announce the voting center results and a copy of the results forwarded to the Presidential Elections
Committee.
• c. All agents shall sign the declaration form.
d. Failure of an Agent to sign the Results announcement by the Presiding Officer.
e. The presiding officer at the voting center shall transmit hte constituency results to the EC Headquarters ofr collation.
Collation ofN P P Presidential Primaries at Electoral Commission Head Office
47.The results of the Presidential Elections from each Constituency shall b e collated first at the Electoral Commission Regional Head Offices
48.Each contestant would either be represented by himself and/or
his accredited agents (2 Agents) at the Collation Center at the EC Headquarters.
49. After the collation, the EC shall officially declare the results at the NP Headquarters, Asylum Down, Accra.
All contestants are invited to be at
the Party Head Office for this purpose.
50. The Returning Officer and one of the contestant’s Agents at the Collation Centre will jointly sign the results.
51. Election Officials to be Recruited
a. One Presiding Officer for each Polling Station b. One Assistant in charge ofthe Register.
c. One Assistant in charge of indelible ink
d. One ballot issuer.
e. One queue controller.
This guidelines or regulations is issued this day Wednesday, September 20, 2023 by the Presidential Elections Committee with the cooperation and acceptance by all the duly appointed representatives of the Presidential Candidates.
