NPP confirms Lydia Seyram Alhassan as the party’s 2020 Parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wougon

NPP’s National Council confirms Lydia Seyram Alhassan as the party’s 2020 Parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wougon.

The NPP’s National Council, which is one of the party’s highest decision making body has, unanimously resolved to make Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the Member of Parliament for Awayaso West Wougon the NPP’s Parliamentary Candidate for the 2020 General Elections.

By this decision, the Awayaso West Wougon Constituency becomes the only constituency in the country where the NPP will not hold Parliamentary Primaries ahead of this year’s General Elections.

In arriving at this decision, the NPP took the view that Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan was overwhelmingly elected by the delegates of the constituency to stand as the party’s Parliamentary Candidate during the by-elections held in that constituency exactly a year ago. It is also the position of the party that she has thus far, conducted herself creditably in meeting the legitimate expectations of her constituents and the party at large. In view of this, the NPP’s National Council felt it was in the supreme interest of the party to maintain Lydia Seyram Alhassan as their Parliamentary Candidate in order to guarantee a retention of the Seat.

This was revealed by the NPP’s General Secretary, John Boadu, when he addressed a press conference on Thursday, January 16, 2020, to announce the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the party’s 2020 Parliamentary Primaries in constituencies where the party has sitting Members of Parliament. Among other things, the General Secretary of the party told the press that:

“The NPP shall hold parliamentary primaries on Saturday April 25, 2020 in all the 169 constituencies where the party has sitting Members of Parliament with the exception of the Ayawaso West Wougon constituency. This is because, the party, at a joint National Council and National Executive Committee meeting held on October 21, 2019, unanimously resolved that the current MP for the constituency, Hon Lydia Seyram Alhassan, who was recently elected as the party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency by-election be made to stand as the party’s candidate for election 2020”.

The confirmation by the NPP that Lydia Seyram Alhassan will, all things being equal, be the party's Parliamentary Candidate for the Ayawaso West Wougon Constituency has since destabilized the NDC in the constituency who were hoping that Lydia Seyram Alhassan would be replaced by, in their view, a "weaker candidate" so that their candidate, John Dumelo, could make a meaningful impact in the parliamentary elections.

Obviously, the NDC knows very well that their Parliamentary Candidate in the Constituency, John Dumelo, who is still battling some credibility crisis, cannot, on any day, withstand the electoral might of the workaholic Lydia Alhassan, who, doesn't only have an unblemished reputation but also an unrivaled political acumen in the scheme of things. The NDC, according to many political watchers, is better off giving up any hope of winning the Ayawaso West Wougon Parliamentary Seat at least in the 2020 Elections and rather begin strategizing for the 2024 Parliamentary Elections.