Elections may not be in November – Afenyo Markin

The Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo-Markin is frustrated the 2016 general elections may not be held on November 7 as proposed by the Electoral Commission.

This is because the Constitutional Instrument (CI) to give legal backing to the change of election day from December 7 to November 7 is yet to be laid before Parliament for ratification, he pointed out.

“I have not seen the Instrument [in Parliament],” Afenyo-Markin said while contributing to discussions on TV3’s New Day on Monday. The delay in laying the CI, he said, has also brought about “another confusion” which is keeping the Electoral Commission in court over the credibility of the register to be used for the 2016 general elections.

“Time is of essence,” Afenyo-Markin explained, refereeing to Article 11(7) which requires that the CI is passed into law only after 21 sitting days after it has been laid before Parliament.

“Today (June 27, 2016) we have 27 days left and parliament is rising within few weeks,” he warned, fearing “it will be difficult for that proposal (CI) to be fulfilled”.

NDC Masters

The Effutu MP observed that the Electoral Commission is going through some difficult moment because it is pandering to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“If they had not kowtow to the whims and caprices of their NDC masters, and had accepted that the register is tainted and so let us go for a new register [we wouldn’t be in this situation],” he assessed.

The Electoral Commission, in an application filed by former PNC Youth Organiser Abu Ramadan and NPP activist Evans Nimako, was ordered by the Supreme Court to provide list persons who registered to vote using the NHIS ID cards as a national identity before June 30.

Weighing into the court order, Afenyo-Markin was confident the nation is “getting close to a new voter’s register”, insisting that the current register has “overwhelming challenges…making it not credible”.