General election dates are crucial in all democracies because of the anticipation of run-off elections and the day of the coronation of the president-elect.
In Ghana, December 7 is the general election date and the president-elect is inaugurated on January 7, indicating a space of just a month.
Even though with the exception 2008, the country has not had presidential run-offs, that year’s experience alone was enough to broach a debate on the change of the date for the four-yearly general election in the country.
Therefore, it came as good news when the EC accepted the proposal of political parties for the change of the date and thus presented at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on January 22, 2024 two intertwined proposals regarding to the matter.
The first was that the December 7 date which has been used as the day for both Presidential and Parliamentary elections since 1992 be changed to a date in November.
According to the EC, the change will allow sufficient time for it to effectively manage its operations, particularly in the event of a run-off.
The EC also wants the general election date to be designated as a national holiday to boost public participation in the electoral process.
Before the EC proposal, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, by a petition to the EC, had requested that this year’s election date be changed because falling on a Saturday, it will conflict with what they describe as the Sabbath, a holy day they have dedicated to the worship of God.
The EC promised that there would be further discussion of the whole matter for the political parties, the principal stakeholders, to come to a consensus.
However, before this could happen, the EC has stated that its proposal to move the date for the country’s general elections from December 7 to a date in November will not take effect this year but in 2028 because the legislation required for the change is yet to be put before Parliament.
We think the EC has been proactive enough because its move can nip in the bud certain negative views that could have been attributed to the change if it had been rushed this year.
It is not in doubt that all the political parties in the country and the general public accept the change but no one could have prevented the negative questions and comments.
Elections are crucial in all democracies and are as well life or death matter for some of the people, particularly in Africa.
Some of the electoral conflicts that have taken place have been as a result of bad comments passed about elections.
Ghana is touted as a peaceful country in a continent suffering political upheavals every now and then and that status must be acknowledged always and upheld.
To avoid any conflict with the changed date, we wish to agree that it should not be a particular date but any day from Monday to Thursday in November or any other appropriate month, to save a debate related to Muslims’ worship on Friday.
Holidays have cost implications for employers, so the proposal to declare general election days as national holidays, in spite of the good it is intended for, need further deliberations.
