Koforidua, Feb. 15, GNA - The Eastern Regional Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Samuel Yaw Annor, has assured candidates contesting the party's parliamentary primaries in the region o= f a level playing field.

April 30th this year has been set for the party's primaries nationwid= e to elect parliamentary candidates for the 2012 general elections. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Koforidua at the weekend, Dr Annor said, the decision had become necessary because the party does not want to spend time for campaign to settle disputes. "This would enable candidates to feel at home and contribute more meaningfully towards the well-being of the party in the 2012 general elections if they lose the primaries" he said

The Regional Chairman said he had also directed all executives of the party, both at the regional and constituency levels, not to campaign for an= y candidate to create a peaceful atmosphere within the party during and after the primaries. Dr Annor was of the view that, the NPP had a brighter chance of winning the 2008 election, but due to the way and manner the primaries were organized in some constituencies, many people were annoyed and failed to contribute to the campaign, which contributed to the party's defeat. "This time round, we have learnt our lessons and we would not allow anything to derail us from our focus and our common objective of winning power in 2012" he emphasized.

He cautioned that, the party would not entertain any unacceptable behaviour from any candidate, who would introduce insults, accusations and counter accusations in his or her campaign.

The Regional Chairman assured that anybody, who qualified to contest the parliamentary primaries, would not be denied the opportunity. Dr Annor described the recent statement by the Eastern Regional Organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Tawiah Boateng that his party would win about 54 per cent of the popular votes in the region as a political talk. He said the NPP had put a lot of measures in place to ensure that come 2012 it would win additional seats to the current ones it had in the Easter= n Region.

Dr Annor appealed to all party executives at all levels in the Region t= o propagate the good works of former President Kufuor's Administration so t= hat the party would come back to power to alleviate Ghanaians from their sufferings.