The Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) is proposing a constitutional reform to change December 7 as the election date in Ghana.
The proposition, according to the church, is in pursuit of deepening electoral democracy and engendering the necessary dialogue to ensure that none, especially minority groups, are excluded from participating in the electoral process.
The Church made the proposal during a meeting with representatives of the Electoral Commission (EC) on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.
A statement by the SDA said ahead of the meeting with the EC, the leadership of the Adventist Church also met and built consensus with some religious bodies and political parties.
These include the Office of the National Chief Imam (March 13, 2023), the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) (April 17, 2023), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) (April 18, 2023), Convention People’s Party, (CPP) (April 26, 2023), and People’s National Convention (PNC) (May 2, 2023) as major stakeholders of the Electoral Commission on the subject of election date change from December 7 for the year 2024 and beyond.
According to the Church, it has members in all parts of the country and its 2,090 church buildings and widespread school buildings are often used as election centres with some Adventist members serving as EC’s temporary staff during elections.
“Among other things, the proposed date change automatically necessitates the amendment of non-entrenched Article 112(4) for Parliamentary elections to meet the period guaranteed in Article 63(2) for Presidential elections.”
“The proposed elections date change is also recommended in the proposals of the Reports of the 2011 Constitutional Review Commission and 2015 Electoral Reform Committee,” the statement said.
The SDA explained its crusade on the matter is in the name of the corporate body and will not in any way force members against the exercise of the choice to vote or not to vote.