The Electoral Commission has given the clearest indication it is well prepared to conduct the presidential and parliamentary elections on the proposed November 7 date this year.
The EC’s assurance is contrary to claims by functionaries of the opposition New Patriotic Party and some civil society groups that this year’s elections may not come off on the proposed date following delays in passing the constitutional instrument that will give the November 7 date legal backing.
But Public Relations Officer of the EC, Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, said he could not fathom why some persons are raising doubts about the proposed date. “I don’t really know why they think we are not ready for the elections on November 7. As far as we are concerned, we are very much prepared. We are working towards the November 7elections,” he told radio stations in Accra.
His comments were in reaction to a statement made by the 2016 Campaign Manager of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu, that the EC has failed to find solutions to certain important concerns, which raises doubts about its commitment and readiness for this year’s elections, and especially on the proposed November 7 date.
Making a submission before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Campaign Manager and former National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu, said Constitutional Instrument (CI) 75 which needed to be amended to govern the elections was still not before the House.
He said even if the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill was passed, there would be the need for another CI which would also be in the House for another 21 sitting days.
"Are we ready for that?" he asked.
He said CI 91 demanded that political parties be furnished with copies of the electoral register by the EC and yet that had not been done.
He said the current register had names which needed to be deleted, adding that the deletion might give rise to some legal tussles that might further delay the process of compiling a final register.
The Centre for Democratic Development Ghana and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers also raised doubts over the November 7 date due to the closeness of the date to the next elections. They feel the necessary processes needed to amend the existing laws in order to make November 7 legal will not make it possible to use that date for this year’s elections.
But the PRO of the election-conducting body held a strong opinion that all the challenges regarding the elections would be resolved before the polls.
"It is not too much of a challenge. We are having our exhibition next week and at the same time we will be doing the deletion," he stated.
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