President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will Saturday, June 27, 2020 be endorsed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as its flagbearer for the December 7, 2020 presidential election.
As the party goes for its Special National Council meeting in Accra to engage in this all-important exercise, it is also expected that President Akufo-Addo will formally announce Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate.
Face-off
When this is done, President Akufo-Addo will face off with former President John Dramani Mahama, who has already been elected as the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the presidential election.
This will be the third time the two political rivals will be contesting for the presidential slot of the country.
In their first contest in 2012, former President Mahama polled 5,574,761 of the valid votes cast, representing 50.70 per cent to defeat President Akufo-Addo who obtained 5,248, 898 of the votes, representing 47.74 per cent.
In the 2016 elections, however, President Akufo-Addo garnered 5,627,142 representing 53.56 per cent of valid votes cast to defeat former President Mahama, who had 4,694,830, representing 44.69 per cent.
Many political pundits expect an interesting contest in the third of contests between the two on December 7, 2020.
Running mates
While President Akufo-Addo has made his intention of nominating Dr Bawumia as his running mate clear, former President Mahama is yet to nominate his running mate even though a number of formidable political stalwarts in the NDC have been lined up as potential running mate.
Acclamation process
The National Chairman of the party, Mr Freddie Blay, who is chairman of the National Council, will call the Special Council meeting to order with some opening remarks.
This will be followed by remarks by the General Secretary, Mr John Boadu, before officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) take over the process.
The EC officials will go through the format of acclamation including presenting candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the council.
After President Akufo-Addo has been accepted by the council, he (flagbearer), will proceed to give his acceptance speech.
The elected flagbearer will then consult the National Council and present his nomination of running mate for acceptance after which the running mate will also be introduced.
