Thirty-one people, comprising 30 males and a female, have picked nomination forms to contest the upcoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary primaries in the Upper West Region.

Out of the number, 23 were new entrants while the remaining eight are sitting Members of Parliament (MPs).

Issah Kantagyere, the Upper West Regional Communications Officer of the NDC, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the sole female parliamentary aspirant was from the Jirapa Constituency.

He said the Wa Central and the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituencies recorded the highest number of aspirants of four each while the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI), Sissala West, and Nandom constituencies had two aspirants each being the constituencies with the lowest number of aspirants.

The rest are Wa West, Wa East, Jirapa, Lawra, Lambussie, and Sissala East Constituencies with three aspirants.

The NDC opened nominations from 22nd February to 24th February 2023 to allow persons interested in contesting the presidential or parliamentary primaries of the party to pick forms at the cost of GH¢30,000.00 and GH¢5,000.00 respectively.

Per the timetable for the NDC primaries, submission and filling of nomination was expected to take place from Monday, March 20, 2023, to Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at a non-refundable fee of GH¢40,000 for males and GH¢20,000.00 for female parliamentary aspirants while the presidential aspirants would pay a non-refundable filing fee of GH¢500,000.00.

Subsequently, vetting for the aspirants would be held from the 27th to the 29th of March 2023.

The party would hold its presidential and parliamentary primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023, simultaneously across all 275 constituencies of the country to elect a flagbearer and parliamentary candidates for the 2024 elections.