Mr Alex Afriyie, former Chairman of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) in Asutifi North Constituency, has appealed to elders of the party to endeavour to heal the long-standing rift between President John Evans Atta Mills and former President Jerry John Rawlings before the campaign for the December polls would start. Mr Afriyie, who is also the Assembly Member for Ntotroso-Akyease Electoral Area, was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani at the weekend. He explained that the step by the elders would help capture more votes from the floating electorate to ensure victory for the party in the elections. Assessing the current political terrain of the country, Mr Afriyie cautioned the leadership of the party “not to make the mistake to sideline the founder of the Party during the campaign period, but to involve him to ensure a resounding victory.” Mr Afriyie reminded them that NDC won the 2008 elections by a few vote differences over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and “this is the time for the NDC to sharpen its campaign strategy to win the hearts of more of the electorate to score a wider margin win against the NPP. To attain this goal former President Rawlings must be part of the train because he has the charisma.” He stated: “If politics is played with numbers then the elders of NDC should not down-play advice from members and sympathizers of the party pertaining to the need for the two most important figures of the party to come to terms to enhance the growth of NDC.” Mr Afriyie expressed disgust about the unhealthy discussions about the two figures on some FM radio stations and expressed the fear this could persist if elders of the party failed to make pragmatic efforts to unite them.