The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has justified its decision to reject the Electoral Commission’s proposal to change the election date from December 7 to November 7.
The Deputy Director of Elections of the NDC, Tanko Rashid Conputer, in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) rejected the same proposal in 2016.
Rashid Conputer rhetorically questioned what has changed over the years: the NPP now seems to be in tandem with the EC’s proposal and is calling on others to accept it.
“The NPP vehemently voted against the proposal in 2016. It was proposed in 2016 to change the date, and we needed a constitutional amendment. We needed the MPs to vote on it, and the NPP MPs voted against it, giving reasons for voting against the proposal. That is what we used for the 2020 elections. So, what we are asking now is, what has changed?”
The proposal was raised during the recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Monday, January 22, 2024.
NDC’s Director of Elections, Dr. Omane Boamah, in response to the proposal, stated that the party is committed to maintaining the current date.
Rashid Conputer explained that the EC in 2016 “was trying to experiment with it, and it was a political proposal by all the political parties. The NPP vehemently opposed it at IPAC, and that is why we don’t see the need to change the date now.”
He added that the NDC’s opposition to the proposal is non-negotiable, and it will not rescind it.
“Clearly, we said we are completely against it, and we are not going to support it. We have made that very clear to the EC and the other parties, and this is not an issue we should be discussing right now.”