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Barring any unforeseen developments, the 2012 presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will once again face President John Dramani Mahama in the 2016 general election after whipping two of his challengers at the presidential primary held on Saturday. Nana Akufo-Addo who was obviously tipped ahead of last Saturday�s contest, massively garnered majority of the votes, an indication that party delegates preferred him to the others. The veteran politician and a legal luminary battled it out with former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen and NPP Member of Parliament for Mampong in the Ashanti Region, Francis Addai Nimoh. Nana Akufo-Addo, Alan Kyerematen and Francis Addai Nimoh were among five aspirants after a special delegates congress held on 31 August this year had pruned down the number of aspirants to five, according to the party�s constitution. Two of the aspirants, Hon. Joe Ghartey and Hon. Kofi Osei Ameyaw, MP for Asuogyaman Constituency in the Eastern Region, stepped down for Akufo-Addo. At the close of a keenly contested primary on Saturday which witnessed accusations and counter-accusations of vote buying and inducement, among others, Akufo-Addo polled 117,416 votes representing 94.35 per cent, while Alan Kyerematen polled a paltry 5,908 votes representing 4.75 per cent, with Addai Nimoh bagging only 1,128 votes representing 0.91per cent. The results were declared by the Director of Elections at the Electoral Commission, Mr Tetteh. Out of 141,172 delegates expected to vote in last weekend�s exercise, 125,320 turned up to exercise their franchise representing 88.77 per cent, while a total number of 1,182 rejected votes were recorded in the nationwide exercise. In 2010, Nana Akufo-Addo polled 83,517 votes (78.89 per cent); Alan Kyerematen polled 21,226 votes (19.91 per cent); Isaac Osei garnered 1,194 votes (1.12 per cent); Prof. Frimpong-Boateng 428 votes (0.40 per cent) and John Kwame Kudua garnered 225 votes (0.21 per cent). Nana Akufo-Addo gave a victory speech at the Efua Sutherland Park at the end of the elections and thanked all party supporters for their massive support. He extended an olive branch to his two contestants and stated that his victory represented victory for the NPP and the country as a whole. He asked all party members to close their ranks and work as a team to kick the NDC out of power in the 2016 elections. Alan Kyerematen and Addai Nimoh accepted the results and pledged their unflinching support for Akufo-Addo.