QUESTION OF THE DAY
ARE THE PEOPLE FULLY INFORMED OF THE NEGOTIATING POSITIONS OF ALL THE OPPOSITION PARTIES IN THE COUNTRY ON COALITION BUILDING?
In order to avoid the mistakes of the past the public needs to be informed of the position of each party or independent candidate on coalition building.
At the moment the independent candidate has stated her position. She has called on all political parties to endorse her as an independent candidate. None of the parties has so far declared such endorsement.
The UDP has issued a press release proposing for all parties to endorse their candidate. Their second option is for the opposition parties to select delegates who would select one person from civil society to be flagbearer. In the absence of these two options they will go it alone.
The PDOIS has proposed the selection of a presidential candidate by the people through a primary. It calls for each presidential candidate to have 5000 nominators as required by the constitution to stand as a presidential candidate and compile them into a list. All these nominators would select one of the presidential candidates to be flagbearer and stand as an independent candidate after selection even if he/she was selected by a party to contest.
The GPDP has expressed support for a primary but would not oppose the reduction of the number of voters who would participate in the primary for each candidate.
The GDC promised to make its proposal public as soon as possible.
The PPP promised to make its pronouncement by mid- September.
The NRP promised to reveal its proposal at an inter-party meeting.
The GMC is yet to make a proposal.
These positions are likely to shift in these coming days and weeks as consultations between parties and independent candidates unfold.
