The Germany Branch of the New Patriotic Party will hold chapter meetings next weekend to allow members of the branch to indicate by election their preferred candidate(s) in the upcoming congresses scheduled for August 31 and October 18.

Mr Alhassan Yakubu Tali, Chairman of the Germany Branch of the party, who announced this in a radio interview explained that the purpose of the exercise is to provide party members a say and give an indication of members’ preferred choice among the seven contestants in order to guide the delegates to vote on behalf of the Branch.

He added,“We want the delegates we send to Accra to vote according to the clear express wishes of the Branch and its members. It is important for delegates to vote for the candidate(s) who commands the support of the majority because it will be these same members who will sacrifice time and resources to campaign for the party come 2016.”

He said, if it becomes clear after the chapter elections that the views of the Branch members are divided, “we will look at the numbers and give our three votes on August 31 of the Special Electoral College to the person or persons the majority of our chapters endorse.”

He stressed, “the NPP cannot afford to play with 2016. We want to make sure that as delegates, we vote for the person that the people want.”

He noted that the current economic crisis is the direct consequence of economic mismanagement, unprecedented corruption, serious leadership deficit and policy incoherence and said future generations will never forgive the NPP if it fails to win the 2016 polls.

Mr Tali said the decision to put the matter to vote at the chapter level is to help strengthen the unity of the party.

“We do not want a situation where our members are not sure which way we will vote. Even though the vote is secret, we want to go to Accra with the conscious knowledge that we have been instructed by our members to vote a particular way. It gives us no excuse to otherwise.”

He went on to express the confidence that this will help all members to bury their differences and rally behind whoever is elected to lead the party after the congress on October 18.

He urged members of the party to keep praying not only for a successful outcome of the 31 August Special Delegates College and 18 October National Congress but for the party leadership, as well.