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The presidential primary race of the New Patriotic Party will now have to go through a special electoral college to cut down the number of aspirants from seven to five. A total of seven candidates had filed to contest the presidential primaries of the party as of Monday July 7, 2014. They are Francis Addai Nimoh, John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Osei Ameyaw, Joe Ghartey and Stephen Asamoah Boateng. They each paid a filing fee of Gh?75,000 after paying Gh?10,000 to pick the forms at an earlier date. In year 2007, 17 aspirants contested the election for the party�s presidential primary. The number of aspirants was condemned by many, and in an attempt to avert a similar occurrence in future, the party amended its constitution to limit the number of persons allowed to contest under the system to five. It also expanded the Electoral College for the selection of the party's Presidential Candidate from the about 2000 delegates to about 140,000 delegates. The new rules states that when more than five people file to contest the presidential primary, a special electoral college ought to be organised, by secret balloting, to cut the number down to five. Persons eligible to cast their vote at the special congress will include national and regional executive committee members, national council of elders, Members of Parliament, few representatives of special organs of the party, past national officers, external branches, and founding members. Therefore, with the number of interested aspirants now at seven, the party would have to organise a special Electoral College to prune the number before the December 6 elections. The party opened the nominations on June 6, and all seven aspirants who picked the forms filed them by close of day July 7, 2014. The General Secretary, Kwabena Agyapong, said the party believed in competition and that the NPP was not a communist party where one person can legislate that this one is going to be the leader of our party. �Our tradition believes in competition and so be it. So if we have seven people who are interested in taking up the mantle of flagbearership of the party, they are offering their services to the party.� �It is the decision of 140,000 polling station executives that all of us have to respect,� he said.