Three leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) collected forms to contest the flag bearer slot of the party when nominations closed at 1700 hours on Tuesday.
They were President John Evans Atta Mills, former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah.
Nana Konadu and Dr Spio-Garbrah, who were vice chairpersons of the party, resigned their positions to qualify to contest in the primaries.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr George Lawson, Deputy General Secretary, said the contestants had up to June 1, 2011 to return the completed forms.
The NDC would elect their flag bearer at their July 8-10 Congress in Sunyani.
The development brings into the open a bitter power struggle between President Mills and his supporters and the Rawlingses.
Submission of completed nomination forms is slated for June 1, vetting of potential candidates would be from June 7-8, and release of
delegates' lists would be on June 10.
The NDC National Executive Committee has approved a non-refundable fee of GH¢20,000 to be paid by male flag bearer aspirants. In line with the party’s social democratic and gender sensitive credentials, it has offered a 50 per cent rebate to all female aspirants.
The party hopes this would encourage more women to participate in the democratic process and assume a more responsible role in the party
and the country at large.
Each contestant shall be proposed by two persons and seconded by four persons who must be members of the executive at the branch,
constituency, regional or national levels.
A duly proposed contestant shall be endorsed by two members of the executive at any level of the party from each of the 230 Constituencies of the country.
An aspirant must fulfill qualification criteria as stated in Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution, which deal with the qualifications to be President of Ghana.
In addition, the aspirant must be a member of a branch of the party, a known and active member of the party for not less than four
years, shall not be a member of any other political party, and must accept the constitution, philosophy and policies of the NDC.
Others are that the aspirant must be an active and card bearing member of the party with fully paid up membership dues; must not be facing any disciplinary action for breach of the party’s Disciplinary Code and Constitution; and must not be a member of the executive committee at any level of the party at the time of picking of the
nomination form.