NPP elects Dr Bandie for Nadowli-Kaleo
The New Patriotic Party has elected Dr R.D. Boye Bandie, a lecturer at the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, as the party’s parliamentary candidate for the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency in the Upper West Region.
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Dr Boye Bandie polled 203 votes out of 468 valid votes, with his closest challenger, Elvis Banoemuleng Botah, polling 148 votes. A third candidate, Dr Daniel A. Bagah, managed 117 votes.
In a show of magnanimity in victory, he said overall victory belonged to the NPP for the peaceful and orderly process that elected him, as well as the maturity that characterised the entire campaign and election.
He said he needed the support of the two other candidates and that of the party’s machinery to prosecute the campaign for election in 2016 to deliver the seat for the NPP.
“I am pleasantly surprised that delegates have remained by my side over the period, and I think the bigger work starts from now,” he said after the other candidates pledged their full support to him in his bid to win the seat for the party.
Second attempt
Next year’s polls will be the second attempt by the 55-year-old Dr Boye Bandie to wrest the seat from the National Democratic Congress’ Alban Bagbin following their contest in 2012.
Indeed, the university lecturer’s 12,073 votes in the 2012 polls was seen as an impressive showing against Mr Bagbin’s 16,063 votes.
Mr Bagbin, currently the Majority Leader in Parliament and already a six-time parliamentarian, is facing competition from three candidates within the NDC at the November 21 primary intra-party election in the constituency.Despite holding parliamentary primaries across the country more than three months ago, the NPP delayed the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency edition for what party officials called “strategic reasons”.
It appeared then that a strategy to observe the strength of the formidable Mr Bagbin was behind the cautious exercise. And with the Majority Leader set to face his own contest on November 21, the NPP’s wait appeared to have lasted long enough.
