The Electoral Commission’s (EC) hope of organising this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections on November 7 has been dashed thanks to a vote in parliament on Thursday.
Despite 125 Members voting YES in favour of the date change with 95 voting NO to reject the date change, the votes still fell short of the 184 YES votes needed for the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2016 to pass into law.
The EC had tabled a proposal to change the December 7 general elections voting date to November 7 to enable a smoother transition between an outgoing government and a new one as well as have ample time to organise a run-off election should the case arise.
Although the Majority members failed to turn up on the vote day in their numbers, had some Minority members who voted in the secret ballot favoured the date change, the bill would have passed.
Ghana organises both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections concurrently swearing-in the president and new members of parliament on January 7.
Although Ghana’s first presidential and parliamentary elections in 1992 were held on separate days in November and December respectively, a boycott by the NPP citing rigging informed the decision to hold subsequent elections on same day to guard against future boycotts and cut down cost.
Â