By Divine Akwensivie, Ph.D., MCIM.
Accra, Jan. 08, GNA -.The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is currently undergoing a critical phase of organisational recalibration following its electoral defeat in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
This defeat, which reflected in a contraction of presidential vote share, reduction in parliamentary representation and declining regional performance, has triggered an internal reorganisation process.
Central to this process is the forthcoming election of a new flagbearer, scheduled for 31st January 2026, which is expected to play a decisive role in the party’s strategic repositioning for future national contests.
Notwithstanding its importance, the ongoing campaigning activities to convince delegates to select a flagbearer has increasingly been marked by insults, personal attacks, and factional rhetoric, rather than substantive deliberations on policy orientation, leadership competence, and organisational reform.
This trend raises significant concerns about the party’s cohesion and long-term electoral viability.
Research on intra-party politics consistently demonstrate that highly adversarial internal elections weaken party cohesion and post-primary effectiveness.
When internal contests degenerate into personal vilification, several predictable outcomes emerge:
(1) Erosion of party solidarity, leading to reduced commitment among grassroots activists and party officials.
(2) Institutional fragmentation, occurs when local and regional structures align with rival factions rather than the central party agenda.
(3) Strategic disadvantage, as opposing parties exploit internal conflicts to question leadership credibility and governing capacity.
These risks are particularly salient given the NPP’s post-2024 context, where electoral data already suggest declining voter confidence, including reduced turnout in traditional strongholds and the loss of a number of competitive constituencies.
Within this environment, leadership selection process assumes heightened significance for party recovery and electoral repositioning.
From a normative democratic perspective, intra-party leadership selection should prioritise policy vision, organisational competence, and electoral strategy.
The Flagbearer
The role of a flagbearer extends beyond internal party appeal and mobilisation to include:
(1) Re-engagement of dissatisfied voters across constituencies.
(2) Restoration of trust among key demographic groups, notably the youth, who constitute increasing percentage of the electorate.
(3) Articulation of coherent policy responses to pressing national challenges such as economic stability, employment generation, governance reforms and more.
The personal attacks and derogatory discourse characterizing the ongoing process fail to advance these objectives. Instead, such practices undermine the perceived legitimacy of the eventual nominee and complicate post-primary reconciliation thereby weakening the party’s prospects for effective electoral competition.
The Cost of a Bitter Primary
Evidence from both Ghanaian electoral history and competitive political systems suggests that parties emerging from highly divisive primaries often experience diminished performance in subsequent general elections.
When internal leadership contests become proxy wars of insults, the aftermath is predictable:
(1) Disillusioned supporters: An estimated number of party foot soldiers may disengage, choosing apathy over activism.
(2) Fragmented structures: Constituency and regional executives split along candidate lines, undermining mobilisation.
(3) Opposition advantage: Rivals harvest soundbites, replay internal attacks, and frame the party as unfit to govern.
These outcomes are empirically observable rather than merely theoretical.
Post 2024 election
The NPP faces heightened risks given its recent losses in swing constituencies and a decline in percentage turnout in key strongholds.
Reproducing the conditions that contributed to these outcomes would further weaken the party’s electoral competitiveness.
Post-Primary Unity and Strategic Relevance
The flagbearer primaries scheduled for 31st January 2026 should therefore be understood not as an end in itself, but as the foundation for party renewal.
Empirical evidence from comparative political systems indicates that parties emerging from divisive primaries face significant difficulties in mobilising support during subsequent general elections.
Statements made and positions taken during the internal contest will shape intra-party relations well beyond the primary date.
Consequently, the behaviour of key stakeholders within the party: delegates, aspirants, party executives, and communication teams carries long-term strategic implication and must therefore assess the long-term consequences of their conduct.
Statements made and positions adopted during the primaries’ campaign will shape intra-party relations well beyond the contest itself.
A central question that remains is, whether a party perceived as internally fragmented can effectively project itself as a credible alternative government?
The primaries on 31st January 2026 should be a starting line for unity, not a finish line for grudges.
Every word spoken today will echo into the 2028 campaign. Every insult thrown today may return tomorrow as sabotage, silence, or protest votes.
Delegates, aspirants, surrogates, and communicators must therefore ask themselves hard questions:
(1) What will become of the party the morning after the primaries?
(2) How many bridges will have been burned beyond repair?
(3) Can a party that attacks itself convincingly ask Ghanaians for a second look?
Conclusion
A Call to Responsibility
The NPP represents an institutional entity that transcends individual aspirations, slogans, or temporary advantage. It is a party that once rallied its members around shared values of freedom, enterprise, rule of law.
The New Patriotic Party’s institutional strength has historically derived from its capacity to mobilise its members around shared ideological principles such as individual liberty, market-oriented development, and constitutional governance.
In the current phase of reorganisation, preserving these foundations requires restraint, issue-based engagement, and a collective commitment to party cohesion.
Ultimately, the task before the NPP is not merely to select a flag bearer, but to rebuild a unified and credible political organisation.
This objective cannot be achieved through insults and personal attacks.
The party must recognise that it has a political institution to build beyond the insults and personality attacks.
Today, the task is not to destroy opponents within, but to build a credible alternative for the nation.
That work demands discipline, humility, and respect.
There is a party to build, beyond insults and personal attacks the morning after 31st January.
GNA
Edited by Samuel Osei-Frempong
The writer is a political marketing researcher and strategist, Accra Technical University.