Following the successful conclusion of the recent delegates? congresses of the two major parties, the NDC and the NPP, the battle lines are clearly drawn for a showdown in the 2004 elections.

With the resolution of the question of who will lead these two parties into battle in the year 2004 attention has shifted to who will be the running mates to President J.A. Kufour and John Evans Atta Mills.

While the two parties may most likely not take a decision on who their running mates will be until the election year of 2004, speculation of likely permutations has begun.

Speculation is that the NDC is looking for a younger person, probably from the north who is not only a Muslim but charismatic enough to spice up the slightly dull personality of the Professor. Various names are being thrown up.

The eloquent lawyer Alhaji Mohammed Mummuni, the respected Minority Leader Alban Bagbin, well liked and affable John Mahama, finance strongman Moses Asaga, former Ayawaso MP Sinare, and Military Dentist MP Mustapha Ahmed. The NDC appears to have a wide crop of young alternatives both on its Minority benches and outside Parliament.

While the case of the NPP running mate looks easier and cutout because it has a sitting Vice President, it probably is the more complicated. Very confidential speculation within a limited circle in the NPP is questioning whether the choice of current Veep Aliu Mahama as Kufour?s running mate for 2004 should be automatic.

Some of the thinking behind this speculation is the idea that the NPP must commence grooming a successor to President Kufour for the 2008 elections. The belief is that such a successor must be put in place as running mate for the 2004 elections. There is a lot of doubt about the ability of the current Veep to emerge as leader of the NPP after JAK has finished his term.

Other consideration of this group has been that the selection of Veep Aliu did not enhance much the fortunes of the NPP in the North during the last elections. The complications of the Dagbon crisis has also created a further albatross around the neck of the Veep who hails from Yendi but whose stature does not seem to have reflected on the crisis.(It?s been rumoured that he has been unable to go back to Dagbon since the death of the Ya Na).

Recent allegations by the Minority NDC about LIDRA, a construction company that is accused of benefiting from questionable auctions of Feeder Roads Dept equipment in the Northern Region and had close links with the Veep are also being considered a drawback which could be exploited to attack him by the NDC in the elections of 2004.

This negative outlook has not been enhanced by the stronger accusation of a lack of sharpness and weak grasp of the technical aspects of the bureaucracy. While this speculation is very limited and so far circulating just within a limited section of the leadership, it is obvious that the selection of the running mate to partner JAK in 2004 could hold a lot more surprises and be a much more interesting process to follow than that of the NDC.