Former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, says holding the New Patriotic Party’s presidential primary early helped ease tensions within the party.

In an interview on Monday, 5 October, following the party's National Delegates Conference held over the weekend, he said the recommendation came from the committee he chaired to examine the NPP’s defeat in the 2024 general election.

Prof Oquaye explained that the committee studied challenges within the party and recommended an early presidential contest as part of efforts to address them.

“One thing that our committees immediately did was to recommend … that the presidential elections be held early,” he said in an interview on Super Morning Show.

According to him, the decision helped calm the party after the contest.

“You can see that the moment that the election was held earlier … everything became cold,” he stated.

Prof Oquaye said the proposal initially attracted criticism, including arguments about the order in which the party should hold its internal elections. He maintained, however, that the committee had a clear purpose for recommending the early primary.

“But we knew what we were doing,” he said.

He added that the party’s constitution permitted the approach, based on its interpretation of the existing provisions.

Prof Oquaye presented the easing of tensions as evidence that the committee’s recommendation had helped the NPP address an internal challenge following its electoral defeat.