The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is planning a more deliberate approach to selecting parliamentary candidates in constituencies where it has no sitting Member of Parliament ahead of the 2028 elections.

Newly elected Third Vice Chairperson of the party, Nana Akomea, says the strategy will involve assessing the demographics of these “orphan constituencies” before candidates are selected.

He said the approach is not entirely new but will be implemented on a larger and more deliberate scale.

“No, but it’s not new. Every party does that.”

Nana Akomea said the NPP now has more constituencies without sitting MPs and enough time to plan its parliamentary strategy carefully.

“But what is essential is the demography. We have a bit of time now to look at the demography of each of the orphan constituencies.”

He said constituency parties will be expected to provide information on the demographics of their areas.

“The constituency party will bring us reports about the demography, and they would suggest that for this constituency, if we get a candidate from this demography, it will help us.”

According to him, taking such decisions early will prevent prospective candidates from investing heavily in campaigns only to be rejected later.

“When that determination is made early, then somebody who is not from that demography will not go and waste time and money to campaign, and then later on you decide that, oh, he may not win.”

He said such candidates could already have built support and become emotionally invested in the contest by the time the party reaches a different conclusion.

“But then he’s already invested money. He’s already got followers. His emotions involved.”

Nana Akomea said the NPP had used a similar approach ahead of the 2000 elections.

“Look, in the NPP going to the 2000 elections, we did the same exercise.”

He cited the profiling of constituencies in Accra's coastal areas as an example.

“We had a lot of constituencies with no sitting MPs, and we decided that the coastal area of Accra, for example, should be reserved for Gas. That is profiling, and so on.”

He also defended the party’s decision to identify potential candidates who are not currently members of the NPP.

“Every party does that.”

Nana Akomea said the difference ahead of 2028 will be the scale and the level of planning.

“So it is not new. Is that we’re going to do it on a scale that is more deliberate, and that is more fulfilling.”

He said the NPP’s early internal reorganisation has also given the party more time to prepare for the next general election.

“We have a bit of time.”

He linked the early selection of the party’s flagbearer to the reduced tension during the recent national executive elections.

“We secured for ourselves the blessing of time by doing this reorganisation, selecting the flagbearer 2-3 years ahead of the elections, and you would see the wisdom in that action has cascaded.”

Nana Akomea said the party’s immediate task is now to get its parliamentary strategy right.

“What we need to do now is to get the parliamentary thing right.”