A total of 689 people from nine regions of the country have successfully filed nominations to contest for parliamentary slots on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
At the close of nominations on Thursday, the Ashanti Region’s filing had to be extended to September 17, 2015, because the biometric registration of members of the NDC in that region coincided with the opening of nominations nationwide.
More so, people who intended to contest the primaries in that region would require information from the biometric registration exercise to complete their nomination forms.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, made that comment at a press conference in Accra.
Out of the number, 56 females and two persons with disabilities had filed to contest, Mr Asiedu Nketiah said.
The persons with disabilities are the Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Henry Siedu Daanaa and another in the Buem Constituency of the Volta Region whose name was not readily available.
Big names drop out
Some big names that did not file nominations are the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Nandom Constituency, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor; the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Cape Coast, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, and MP for the Nadowli East, Mr Mathias Puozaa.
The MP for Wassa Amenfi Central, Mr George Kofi Arthur, failed to file his nominations because he was beaten by time as he arrived to file his nomination after its closure at 5 p.m.
Also, the MP for Talensi, Benson Tongo Baba, who was recently elected in a by-election, has been given the nod by the people of his constituency to contest unopposed.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said following the opening of nominations, two regions, the Greater Accra and the Volta regions, had introduced an additional fee besides the filing fee which they called development levy.
He said in order to ensure that no one was denied the right to file nominations due to the non-payment of that levy, the national office of the party created another desk for persons from those two regions who might decide not to pay the levy to register, should they be denied for non-compliance.
He said eight persons from the Volta Region and another one from Greater Accra had availed themselves of that arrangement.
Three in Greater Accra to go unopposed
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said three persons in the Greater Accra Region had been given the nod to run unopposed in three constituencies: Odododiodoo, Ayawaso-West Wuogon and Tema Central.
So far, the Ashaiman Constituency is leading with the highest number of nominees totalling 11, while the Northern Region has the highest regional number of nominees of 120.
The Greater Accra Region registered a total of 110 nominees out of which 11 were females, while Brong Ahafo registered 66 with nine being sitting MPs and four being females. Ten others were sole candidates; if they pass the vetting, they will go unopposed.
The Central Region also had 66 entries including 10 females and 13 incumbent MPs while the Eastern Region had 81 entries, nine females and seven incumbents.
The Upper East Region had 44 entries out of which two females filed nominations to contest in the Pusiga and Nabdam constituencies.
In the Upper West, there were 35 entries including four females and eight incumbents as well as one physically challenged person while the Western Region had 69 nominees with six sole nominees and two females.
The Volta Region registered 97 entries with 10 females but as of the time of the press conference, the breakdown of incumbent MPs had not yet been ascertained.
New way of vetting
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said the next stage of the process would be the vetting of the applicants to ensure they conformed to the eligibility criteria of the person and added that in the event that no one was qualified to contest in any particular constituency, nominations would be reopened in that constituency.
He said unlike the past where vetting was done at three levels of the constituency, regional and national, this time around, a team, made up of members from the three levels, would be despatched to the regions to do a one-stop vetting.
That, he said, would be followed by balloting for positions on the ballot paper following which the primaries would be held on November 7, 2015.
