The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced that its proposal to change the date for general elections from December 7 to November may not be implemented this year.
Deputy EC Chairman in charge of Corporate Services, Eric Asare Bossman, stated that the necessary legislation for this change will be presented to Parliament soon.
“So within the last few months, this is something the commission is going to trigger. That was agreed with the political parties that in the event we cannot marshal the forces of IPAC to have it in November in 2024, the commission should take steps to ensure that in 2028, we are going to have it in November,” he said at the launch of JoyNews’ 2024 Election coverage.
The Deputy EC Chairman clarified that the new date for the general elections, if approved, will be a selected day in November, and not specifically November 7 as widely speculated.
“This must be clear, we were not talking about November 7. At the IPAC meeting, the decision was a day in November. So it can be the first Monday, a second Monday, a third Monday or Tuesday or Friday or Thursday.”
In January, the Commission proposed changing the election date to November and designating election days as national holidays. These proposals were discussed at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on January 22, 2024. The Commission argued that holding elections earlier in November could enhance civic engagement and strengthen democratic values.
However, some Ghanaians, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), disagreed with this proposal. They argued that any major electoral reforms should be implemented from November 2028, based on a previous consensus.