.. No Skirt & Blouse Votes for NPP

.. Vigilance Would Be Stronger On Voting Day

The General Secretary of the great National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has observed that the choice of Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum, otherwise known as Peter Yorke, as the presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples? Party (CPP) is a huge blessing for the NDC.

In an exclusive interview with The Ghanaian Lens, the NDC Chief scribe noted that the Parliamentary Action Group of the CPP, made up of Dr. Ndoum, Hon. Freddie Blay, Hon. Kwesi Armah, and others vigorously canvassed the electorate to votes for the NPP during the 2004 elections, even though the CPP had fielded a presidential candidate in the person of Mr. George Opesika Aguddey. ?This phenomenon led to the concept of ?Skirt and Blouse? vote pattern that we experienced during the 2004 elections, giving President Kufuor a big advantage to win the elections,? Nketia pointed out. Mr. Nketia stressed that Dr. Ndoum coming on board as the presidential candidate of the CPP, it cannot be fathomed how he would campaign for the NPP candidate as he did against Mr. Agudey of the CPP in 2004, leaving their own party and presidential candidate in a limbo.

The NDC scribe, popularly known called ?General Mosquito? in Ghanaian politics, continued that because of the ?Skirt and Blouse? voting arrangement, the NPP agreed not to field Parliamentary candidates in the constituencies of the so-called Parliamentary Action Group. This led to the combined votes of both the NPP and the CPP to deny the NDC those seats.

Mr. Nketia posited that because Dr. Ndoum would be seriously canvassing for himself and his parliamentary candidates this time round the NPP would not be motivated in anyway to cede the constituencies to the CPP. The logical conclusion, according to him, is that both the CPP and the NPP would split votes thereby paving the way for the NDC to recapture the seats in question.

The NDC?s General Secretary emphasised that it was the canvassed votes of Dr. Ndoum and co that assisted President Kufuor to narrowly escape a run-off. The optimistic-sounding Nketia stated that Dr. Ndoums? participation would ensure that the integrity of the votes on polling day would be enhanced by agents of both the CPP and the NDC, thereby reducing the chances of rigging. He further stated that, when vigilance is observed, what took place in the 2004 where 1.3 unaccounted for votes were added to the results of the presidential votes would not recur.