Story: News Desk

The leader and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that the party has begun scouting for potential parliamentary candidates across constituencies ahead of the 2028 general elections. 

He said the initiative was  intended to identify candidates with the potential to win parliamentary seats, rather than relying solely on the outcome of internal primaries. 

According to Dr Bawumia, some aspirants may have the financial resources to win an NPP parliamentary primary but may not necessarily be capable of winning the subsequent general election. 

“We are going to do a candidate search across all the constituencies, because some people can win parliamentary primaries because they have money, but they can’t win the general elections,” he said. 

He explained that allowing such candidates to emerge solely through the primary process could result in the party losing seats in the general election. 

“If you leave it to them, they will win the primary, but you’ve lost the seat,” he said. 

Dr Bawumia said the candidate search was  already underway and would rely on more than one independent source to help the party assess potential parliamentary candidates. 

“Candidate search is going on and we’re going to have more than one candidate search from independent sources. And we’ll compare what they are saying,” he said. 

He explained that where the independent assessments identify an individual with strong prospects of winning a particular constituency, the party could approach that person and encourage them to contest. 

“Because if we find out that this is the person who can win us the seat, we’ll persuade that person to come on board and help us to win the seat,” he added. 

Dr Bawumia also said the NPP intended to complete its internal elections as early as possible ahead of the 2028 polls. 

He said the process would begin with parliamentary constituency elections, including engagements with sitting Members of Parliament. 

“We are going to also be looking to try to have our parliamentary elections as soon as possible, so that NPP will be done with internal elections,” he said. 

He added that the party would seek to make the process as transparent as possible. 

The initiative forms part of the NPP’s preparations for the 2028 general elections, with the party seeking to identify parliamentary candidates capable of retaining or winning seats across the country.