Tamale, July 31, GNA - Delegates to the up-coming New Patriotic Party (NPP), congress to choose a flag bearer for the party have been urged to elect Vice-President Aliu Mahama as the party's presidential candidate to prove that the party is not ethnic biased.

"Loyalists of Aliu Mahama", a political club based in Tamale and dedicated to championing the cause of the Vice-President made the appeal in a press statement issued in Tamale on Tuesday.

The club said the election of Alhaji Aliu Mahama, as the NPP flag bearer would prove the party's critics, particularly the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) wrong that the NPP was ethnic centred.

The statement said that the Vice-President was an experienced politician who had on several occasions acted in the absence of the President and had proved to be trusted and tested and was therefore the best candidate who could lead the party to victory in the 2008 elections.

"The Vice-President is dependable, he is as well committed to the affairs of the party and will absolutely crush the NDC in the 2008 elections. He is the only candidate capable of consolidating the NDC's stay in opposition", the statement said.

The "Loyalists of Aliu Mahama" were of the view that the NPP constitution should be amended to allow the Vice-President to stand unopposed as the party's presidential candidate. They cited instances in other democracies such as the United States of America (USA) where Vice-President Al-Gore was made to succeed President Clinton on the ticket of the Democratic Party in the 2000 elections.

Similarly the statement said, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa succeeded Nelson Mandela on the ticket of the ANC and queried: "Why can't we allow Alhaji Aliu Mahama to succeed his boss"?