The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is fully prepared for its January 31, 2026 presidential primaries, with all arrangements in place to ensure a credible, transparent and widely accepted process.
A total of 211,849 delegates are expected to cast their ballots at 333 polling centres across 276 constituencies nationwide. Polls will open at 7:00am and close at 2:00pm.
Chairperson of the NPP Presidential Elections Committee, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday that preparations had been completed, including the finalisation of the voters’ register, security arrangements, voting centres and election rules. He said the conduct of the primaries had been entrusted to the Electoral Commission (EC).
“Everything that has to be done is done. The Commission is ready, the police are ready, and everything they need to be able to do their work has been provided,” he said.
Mr Osei-Owusu explained that the party worked closely with the EC to identify voting centres, noting that each constituency would have one polling centre, except in constituencies where delegate numbers exceed 1,000. In such cases, voting points would be split within the same locality.
He said this arrangement resulted in 333 polling centres nationwide, including one at the party’s headquarters in Accra.
According to him, two proposed voting centres were relocated following joint assessments by the EC and constituency executives, a decision he said received unanimous approval from all five presidential aspirants.
“At every stage, we involved the contestants themselves. We showed them the list, we listened to concerns, and we resolved them together,” he said.
On the delegate register, Mr Osei-Owusu said issues arising from validation, petitions and corrections were resolved transparently, with representatives of all aspirants involved throughout the process.
Out of an initial list of 213,617 names, 2,827 deceased members and 653 persons who had forfeited their membership were identified and removed, leaving 211,849 eligible voters.
“If you go to our IT centre now, you will find representatives of the contestants verifying everything and endorsing it before final printing,” he said.
Mr Osei-Owusu said the party had handed over the entire voting, counting, collation and declaration process to the EC. Results will be declared at polling centres, collated at regional centres and finally declared at the party’s headquarters in Accra.
He said the party headquarters would then formally announce the results and introduce the winner to the public.
On security, Mr Osei-Owusu said the Ghana Police Service would deploy between 70 and 150 officers per polling centre, with military support in selected areas, particularly in parts of the Upper East Region.
“Anybody thinking of bringing private security or ‘macho’ men should think twice. The police will deal with it very, very severely,” he warned.
He also announced that proxy voting had been abolished for the primaries to protect the integrity of the process.
“We felt that this is not an election in which we should allow anybody the basis to claim that the process was tainted,” he said.
The five aspirants contesting the NPP’s January 31, 2026 presidential primaries are Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Dr Bryan Acheampong and Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
Expressing confidence in the outcome, Mr Osei-Owusu said the process would be fair to all.
“Everybody will be satisfied that he won because he was voted for, or he lost because he was voted against,” he said.
