The Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, George Loh says this year’s elections will be held on November 7 as planned, “all things being equal”.

There’s been skepticism about the November 7 date, especially from the Minority in parliament, because of the lack of speed in the process of legislating the date proposed for the election.

Mr. Loh who admits the process has been slow is confident the amendment Bill would be done in due time.

Explaining the constitutional processes to legitimize this bill, Mr. Loh said the amendment Bill must be gazetted twice. After it is first gazetted, a period of three months is needed before the second gazette.

It takes 10 days after the second gazette after which the bill is sent to the Council of State for further consideration until it finally comes back to parliament. When it comes back to parliament, the MPs are required to hold wide consultation with the public before a vote is cast.

He bemoaned the fact that although parliament is rising at the end of July, it would have to be recalled, adding "the most serious thing is that you require a two-thirds majority in parliament to pass it into law." 

Mr. Loh said both sides of the House are needed to make up the averagely 206 Members of Parliament (MPs) to pass the bill thus suggestions that complaints of the posture of the Electoral Commissioner by the Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul does not matter when it comes to what MPs do on the floor of parliament.

The Minority in Parliament turned the heat on the Electoral Commission for the delay in legislating the date saying the posture of the EC chair is 'cheeky'. 

But Chief Policy Analyst of the Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options, Dr. Charles Wereko Brobbey maintains the EC has done its work and rest lies with parliament.

"The EC has come out with the timetable that says they are preparing for November 7, if the EC has sat down with the necessary subsidiary constitutional and legal affairs committee and have agreed on legislation,  it is not the EC's jobs to draft legislation," Dr. Brobbey said.

"That is the job of the Attorney General and as far as I know, the A-G has drafted and gazetted the first draft of the Bill so for anyone to say Charlotte Osei's posture is making it difficult to pass this legislation, I ask what has that got to do with it," Dr. Brobbey added.  

He said it is up to parliament to take it through the processes. 

Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs hopes the Minority Leader will whip his people into line to support the amendment in the spirit of consensus building which wins when they have to take such decisions because as the November 7 date works better for the whole country.