The Electoral Commission has expressed gratitude to Parliament for rejecting the proposed constitutional amendment that would have changed Ghana’s election date from December 7 to November.

The legislators on Thursday voted to reject the amendment bill citing what the minority say is the EC’s apparent unpreparedness to hold free, fair and credible elections in November.

After they failed to reach a consensus, the parliamentarians had to decide through secret balloting.  A total of 125 parliamentarians voted in favour (YES) of the bill while 95 voted against (NO).

The votes cast in favour of the bill could however not meet the two-thirds majority required to accept the bill for the change to take effect.

A statement issued by the Commission Friday morning thanked the parliamentarians for their time in debating the bill and the subsequent decision they arrived at.

“We are grateful to the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General and all the members of parliament who participated in the debate and voting,” the statement signed by its Director of Communication, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu said

“Despite the demonstration of our preparedness to deliver a credible and world-class election on the proposed November 7 date, Parliament in its wisdom has decided not to pass the Amendment”.

It added: “As the institution mandated to run elections in Ghana, we have been ready for the November 7 elections if the Amendment Bill had been approved by Parliament”.

Meanwhile, the Commission indicated that the day of Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary election is now set for December 7.

It explained that the change of election date to December 7 would not affect “our commitment to deliver a free, fair, transparent and credible elections” this year.

By 3news.com|Ghana