The Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has backed a proposal by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to hold the 2016 and subsequent presidential and parliamentary elections on November 7.

Speaking Wednesday on Adom FM’s “Burning Issues” programme hosted by Afia Pokua, Programme Officer of CDD-Ghana, Paul Mensah Abrampa, said if the elections are held early – instead of the usual December 7 date – it would help for a smooth transition process.

The Commission is to prepare the necessary constitutional instrument (CI) for presentation to Parliament, which will enable it change the date to November 7.

The EC stated that lessons learnt in 2000 and 2008 informed the new proposal after Ghanaians got to know their new president just three days to the end of the year.

If parliament approves the CI, it will make room for the Commission to be able to organise a run-off in case no candidate is able to secure the 50-plus-one vote required for a first round victory, the senior fellow at CDD-Ghana stated.

It will also allow for adequate preparation for a handover on January 7. A run-off is normally organised 21-days after December 7 on December 28 as stipulated by law.

Paul Abrampah Mensah believes that if the elections are held early it will help the EC and the political parties to resolve any disagreement after the elections.

Contributing to the discussions on the proposal by the EC, a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Ghana, Dr. Poku Adusei also noted that if elections are held on time it will help the out-going government for instance to properly account for state properties.

He said the proposed date would also allow enough time for the outgoing government to hand over notes on national policies to the in-coming government.

“I support the proposal that we should change the current election date because the elections are not always won by one-touch victory by a political party looking at the things” Dr. Poku Adusei also asserted.

Sharing his views on the current controversial debate surrounding the Ghana’s voter’s register, Dr. Poku Adusei stated that democracy is very expensive and for that matter the nation must consider the interest of Ghanaians to prevent any possible mayhem that may occur after the elections.