Wa, June 11, GNA - Mr Lord Commey, National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party on Monday called for consensus building among all applicants who want to contest parliamentary seats on the party's ticket in order to present winnable candidates.

He said "consensus building is a core tenet of democracy and primaries are a last resort that are only held to choose a candidate when all other efforts at coming out with the rightful candidate has failed".

Mr Commey was briefing newsmen in Wa at the start of a nationwide process to vet all persons who filed their nominations to contest on the party's ticket in next year's general elections. The exercise is expected to end on June 19 with the vetting of candidates in "orphan" constituencies in the Greater-Accra Region.

In all, twelve applicants were vetted to find suitable candidates to contest primaries in seven of the ten constituencies in the Upper West Region. Wa Central Constituency had five aspiring candidates and two vying for Nadowli West, while Nadowli East, Jirapa, Lawra/Nandom, Wa West and Lambussie Constituencies had one candidate each. The Party did not open nominations for the Wa East Constituency, which had an NPP sitting Member of Parliament, while nominations for the Sissala East and West constituencies that had People National Convention (PNC) sitting MPs have been put on hold.

Mr Commey said the party' research team had already collected information on all aspirants from all the constituencies through out the country and the vetting process would be in line with the team's findings.

He made it clear that nobody had an absolute right to contest on the party's ticket and each prospective candidate had to be subjected to the rules and regulations spelt out in the party's constitution. "The most popular candidate to win the election is what the NPP is looking for. Somebody can be in the party for just one day and yet the party will put him forward if we are convinced that he will win". He described this year's vetting exercise as a major programme to consolidate the party's hold on power.

Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Abubakari, Regional Chairman, said the party in the Region has taken the challenge to restore the United Party (UP) tradition in the Region and the vetting was a very important assignment that would determine the future of the party in the area. He said it was not a question of who should be the candidate for a particular constituency but rather who could win the seat for the party. 11 June 07