Political marketing strategist, Prof. Kobby Mensah, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should not have reduced the number of candidates participating in its flagbearership race.

According to him, having a larger candidate pool for democratic processes and party unity was important.

In an interview on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Prof. Mensah said the decision to limit the number of candidates can cause some groups to skew the outcome to create a perception that a flagbearer has already been chosen.

This, he said, might influence the campaign strategies of aspirants and result in some prematurely conceding.

He pointed out that candidates with less stable campaign teams might be more susceptible to the influence of bandwagoning, causing them to intensify their campaigns.

"The tendency is that you're going to have the results of this be circulated in very unsuspecting areas, telling people that the election has actually been determined or the party has actually determined that a certain candidate is winning, and so why do you want to waste your vote," he said on Monday, August 28.

Prof Mensah sees this as a potential avenue to be exploited regarding social impact.

"And so those who are not strong in terms of their support base for the other candidates could be swayed. And that is what makes the work of Alan Kyerematen and co. very difficult because now they have to double down than they would have done if the Super Delegates result wasn't out."

This discussion follows Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia's victory in the New Patriotic Party's Super Delegates Congress held on August 26.

The purpose of the Super Delegates Congress was to select five presidential aspirants who will participate in the party's primaries scheduled for November of this year.

Initially, 10 candidates had submitted their forms to contest the NPP's presidential primaries, which are set for November 4.

After the tallying of votes from 16 out of the 17 polling centres nationwide, Vice President Bawumia emerged as the frontrunner with 67.10% of the total votes cast.

Following closely was Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, who garnered 14.15% of the total votes.

As the NPP progresses through its internal selection processes, the debate surrounding the number of candidates in the flagbearership race continues to raise important considerations for party democracy and cohesion.

There is, however, a tie as Francis Addai Nimoh and former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko both got 1.06 percent of total votes cast.