Apam, Jan 7, GNA - Miss Grace Okoe-Santana, Gomoa West Women's Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has appealed to supporters of the party not to let the electoral defeat dampen their spirit. Speaking to the GNA at Apam, Miss Okoe-Santana, who is also the Assembly Member for Alata-Akobirem Electoral area of Apam, said though it was painful that victory which the party could have won at the first instant of the poll eluded them, there was no need brooding over spilt milk.

"We were not disgraced to warrant our keeping indoors," she said, and added that they fought a gallant fight and lost narrowly. She appealed to constituency executives to go to the drawing board to identify what contributed to the defeat of the party in their areas and plan how best they could overcome those problems before the next elections.

Miss Okoe-Santana further appealed to the hierarchy of the party to find a better means of selecting parliamentary candidates, as the way the 2008 primaries were conducted did not help the party. "Our defeat could partly be attributed to the way the electorate in some constituencies were not allowed to elect candidates of their choices," she said.

She hoped the party has learnt a great lesson from the defeat and would make amends when preparing for the 2012 general election. Miss Okoe-Santana suggested to the party to elect its flag-bearer about two years ahead of the elections, to give him or her ample time to campaign for votes.