Ban on public gathering has affected NPP more than any other party - Freddi Blay

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay, says COVID-19 has had a negative effect on his party going into the 2020 elections.

Mr Blay believes that due to the ban on public gathering and the concentration on curbing the spread of the virus, the party would not be able to drum home their achievements to Ghanaians and that would be a big blow to them.

Due to the ban on public gathering, political parties have not been able to begin their campaign ahead of the 2020 elections.

"From our angle, we may be worse affected because we won't have the opportunity of telling Ghanaians about the good things President Akufo-Addo is doing. Things like building roads, NHIS, the economy, 1D1F, how we are managing all this. It is unfortunate that we are restricted in advertising and we can't take advantage of the situation because we are in government, be it as it may we are handicapped but Ghanaians are seeing the works of President Akufo-Addo,"

Mr Blay recently described as needless and misguided the attacks on the Electoral Commission (EC).

This was after some political parties including the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused the EC of planning to rig the 2020 elections in favour of the NPP.

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“The attacks on the EC are absolutely needless and an attempt to subject the EC to the direction or control of any person or authority is unconstitutional and totally misguided,”

He has also called on the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Alliance and the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters’ Register (IPRAN) to spare Ghanaians “the provocative and empty threats of chaos, confusion, bloodshed and death in the name of protecting the Constitution.”

COVID-19 has forced the NPP to suspend its parliamentary primaries which was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020, to elect parliamentary candidates in constituencies where the party has sitting Members of Parliament ahead of the 2020 General Elections.

The decision to suspend the primaries was taken a National Steering Committee meeting held on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, due to the ban on social gatherings as part of national efforts towards the containment of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The EC had originally scheduled April 18 to May 31, 2020 to compile a new voters register but had to put it on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The EC’s firm stance to organise the exercise had been met with stiff opposition by the NDC, other political parties and some civil society organisations, while the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and others have thrown their weight behind it.