The Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Haruna Mohammed, says the party's decision to let the National Council determine the fifth presidential aspirant in a run-off is in line with the party’s constitution.

This was after some people claimed it is unfair to let a few members of the party decide who to take fifth place when over 900 delegates were gathered for the super delegates election.

But speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, he said that NPP’s constitution entrusts the National Council, the party’s second highest decision-making body, with the powers to make such decisions, especially in this case where it is not clearly stated what must happen should there be a tie in a super delegates conference.

“The National Council has not broken any law in our party's constitution. If they have the power, where lies the illegality? No aspect, no provision of this constitution has been broken. Remember, out of the 955, only 18 put us where we are, 9 plus 9 is 18,” Mr Mohammed said.

“...and the two persons involved know the powers of National Council,” the Deputy General Secretary added.

He further stated that allowing all six presidential aspirants to go for the national primaries would rather mean a breach of the party’s constitution which specifically states that only five candidates are allowed in the primaries.

“If the six is going, what do you say about Article 13 1.9 of the party's constitution that talks about five? Why will you allow six to go? That will be the biggest eminent point of illegality,” Mr Mohammed said.

This comes after the NPP on Wednesday announced that its National Council will constitute an electoral college to break the tie between the presidential aspirants that placed fifth in the super delegates conference.

The election comes on Saturday, September 2, 2023.

The party will seek the help of the Electoral Commission, with supervision from the Presidential Elections Committee of the party, to organise the run-off which will decide the final candidate joining the top four on November 4 for the primaries.

Read more: NPP Super Delegates Conference: National Council to determine 5th aspirant in tie-breaker

But, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman Aspirant has described the decision as undemocratic.

Dr Richard Amoako Baah, on the same show, said the decision would result in a legal battle since it is unfair.

According to him, the run-up election must involve all the individuals who participated in Saturday’s super delegates conference.

Read more: NPP super delegate conference: It’s illegal to let National Council determine 5th aspirant – Dr Amoako Baah

This, Dr Baah argued is the surest way to bring about fairness and promote democracy in the New Patriotic Party.

However, the Deputy General Secretary who argues otherwise says anybody who opposes the decision can submit a petition or write proposals to the party for an amendment of the constitution.