The National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has defended the party’s decision to elect its 2026 presidential candidate ahead of local-level internal elections, describing the move as a strategic step to safeguard party unity and cohesion.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Nana Boakye popularly known as Nana B explained that the revised timeline is designed to ensure that the eventual flagbearer has the full backing of the party structure from the start, rather than inheriting a fragmented base.

His remarks come in response to criticism from party figures, including former Energy Minister and presidential hopeful Boakye Agyarko, who described the change in election sequence as “political opportunism masquerading as strategy.”

Mr. Agyarko has called on the National Executive Committee (NEC) to revert to the traditional order of elections.

But Nana B pushed back, arguing that reversing the timeline would risk deepening internal divisions.

“How will a presidential candidate getting a polling station, constituency, or regional chairman elected more important than becoming president? You will need everybody on board."

“If you do it the other way round, the moment you announce the timetable for the lower elections, every person interested in the flagbearership will run to the polling stations and form teams at all levels. By the time we finish the elections, the party is fractured and bruised,” he said.

He stressed that the party's current strategy is aimed at preventing such internal rivalries and ensuring a more united front ahead of the 2028 general elections.

“No serious presidential candidate elected will want to cause the party’s structures to be in disarray, it goes against you in the long run,” he said.

The NPP is expected to elect its next flagbearer on January 31, 2026, as part of a broader political reorganisation following the party’s loss in the 2024 general elections.