The means of deciding the winner of a presidential election in Ghana in what has come to stay as 50-plus-one is one of the key issues the Constitution Review Commission would need to deal with as some citizens push for its amendment. The proponents for the amendment have requested the Constitution Review Commission to consider declaring the candidate who wins more regions as the winner of the presidential race. Per Ghana’s 1992 Constitution as stipulated under Article 63 (3) "A person shall not be elected as President of Ghana, unless at the presidential election the number of votes cast in his favour is more than fifty per cent of the total number of valid votes cast at the election." Since 1992, the 50 plus one, which is not explicitly stated in the Clause three of Article 63, has been used to declare the winners of presidential elections. On the third day of the Commission’s five-day conference in Accra in the final leg of its programme to solicit public views on possible amendments to the supreme law of the land – some members of the ruling National Democratic Congress wanted the status quo changed whilst members of the opposition New Patriotic Party think the law should stay. The NDC, in the 2008 presidential election won seven out of the ten regions, and increased it by one in the run-off. Yet, the winner Prof. Atta Mills managed to poll 4,521,032 representing 50.23 % of the votes to beat his main contender Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP who had 4,480,446 (49.77%) in the run-off even though he won in only two regions – Ashanti and Eastern. Prof. Mills was therefore certified as the victor in the run-off election on January 3, 2009, by a margin of less than one percent. Reporting from the conference, Joy News’ Sammy Darko said some people have argued that abolishing the 50 and more requirement would save the country some money as the cost of organizing a run-off is very expensive, but there are others who say the law should not be touched because several elections have been held in the country since 1992 without any problem. Other issues raised at the conference included the call for the complete scrapping of bye-elections in Ghana’s legal books and holding general elections earlier than the December 7. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com