Findings of a survey on the race for a running mate to partner the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag-bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, have placed Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyeremaren ahead of seven others after sweeping 68 percent of 1000 respondents' votes. He was followed by the NPP Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Hon. Papa Owusu Ankomah (7%) whiles the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Siddique and his counterpart at the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Oboshie Sai Coffie placed third with five percent each. The rest are Prof. Mike Oquaye 4%, Hajia Alima Mahama 3%, Mad. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey 2% and Health Minister Courage Quarshigah 1%. Majority of the Respondents, according to the research findings, rooted for Mr. Kyerematen because he is deemed to be an influential and trusted person with the ability to create jobs, and appeals more to the Ghanaian youth. Mr. Kusi Amakye-Boateng, a lecturer at the Political Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), conducted the survey with the aim of measuring the opinions of the Ghanaian electorate on who is best to partner the NPP Presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He told the press in Kumasi that the survey sampled the opinions of 1,000 respondents in six regions of the country, which included the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western and Greater Accra regions. According to the political science lecturer, the survey fieldwork took place over a period of two weeks, from June 7 - 21, this year, leaving out the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Volta regions from the study, on the basis of bias and insignificant votes that the NPP obtained from these regions in the last general elections. Mr. Amakye-Boateng explained that the study was not designed as a national sample survey; nevertheless, the sampling frame was the updated list of the enumeration areas used in the Ghana 2000 population and housing census. He said, although he was mindful of the strategic nature of the selection of a running mate by political parties in Ghana, the need to balance the ticket to improve the flag-bearer's prospect of winning, brings out the urgency and relevance of the capacity of the running mate to enrich the ticket and the fortunes of the flag bearer. He continued that political parties normally engage in broad consultations with the major stakeholders to take a decision. However, there is a certain danger that relates “to the fact that since these stakeholders are all interested parties, the selected candidate seldom tends to be the strategic candidate," at the expense of competence and capacity. The KNUST lecturer asserted that the ever-present perception for political parties to balance the ticket with religion and ethnicity to increase their chances of winning was silent in the research findings. According to him, only 5% of respondents felt that regional balance is an issue whiles 7% considered gender as a factor to be considered in the selection of a running mate. However, The Chronicle thinks in the real world, Me ahu Kyeremanten's competence became an issue with the collapse of a number of initiatives under his President's Special Initiative (PSI) and was kept as a file by the opposition NDC in the likely event that he emerged as the NPP's candidate.