The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday laid a new Constitutional Instrument (CI) in parliament relating to Public Elections Regulations for 2016 and Representations of the People (Parliamentary Constituencies) Instrument also for 2016.
The new Public Elections Regulations, which will give guidelines for the conduct of the 2016 general election, will also allow journalists and media practitioners to vote in the ‘special’Â voting a week before the elections.
The new CI has been referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament for consideration and report back to the plenary.
The move to allow journalists to vote alongside the security service personnel as well as election officers in the ‘special’ voting was canvassed by parliament; and according to the vice chairman of the Committee, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, it is to enable journalists monitor and report effectively from the beginning of voting in the general election to the end.
He said journalists play important roles in ensuring that there is free, fair and transparent election that is why there is the need for them to vote in the ‘special’ voting to be able to have sufficient time to do their work without fear of not getting the opportunity to exercise their franchise.
Journalists who would be covering the elections would have to be approved by the National Media Commission (NMC) before they would be allowed by the EC to vote in the ‘special’ voting.
The Representation of the People (Parliamentary Constituencies) Instrument, being part of the new CI, will legitimise the new polling stations, most of them being temporary, created by the Electoral Commission across the country – shooting the number of polling stations to over 29,000.
The vice chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Asuogyaman, Osei-Ameyaw, told DAILY GUIDE that a lot of reforms had been made in the new CI 91 in compliance with the Supreme Court order during the election petition hearing following the 2012 elections.
He said political parties and election observers will have to be abreast with all the changes so that monitoring can be done well.
“We as parliament will also do our work well in relation to these new CIs so that every provision is well scrutinised and Ghanaians are given the necessary education on these new election guidelines so that a lot of people are not disenfranchised,” Mr Osei-Ameyaw said.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr