EC sets Feb. 16 for Council of State elections

The election to select members onto the Council of State, which was originally scheduled for today, has been postponed to February 16 this year.

The Head of Communication of the Electoral Commission (EC), Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra, yesterday said the postponement was to enable the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), to constitute the Electoral College for the elections.

According to the 1992 Constitution, he said, each of the MMDAs was to select two candidates to form the Electoral College – a body of electors to vote to decide the persons to represent the regions on the Council of State.

Mr Dzakpasu explained that the government appointees for the various MMDAs were currently being sworn in and there was the need to reschedule the election for the selection of members onto the Council of State.

“We are ready for the elections on February 16,” he said when quizzed by The Ghanaian Times on the preparation of the EC to hold the Council of State elections on the new scheduled date.

The 1992 Constitution mandates the Council of State under Article 89 to counsel the President in the performance of his functions.

According to the constitution, “the Council is required to consider and advise the President or any other authority in respect of any appointment which is required by the constitution or any other law to be made in accordance with advice of, or in consultation with the Council”.

At the close of nominations on January 26 last month, a total of 113 persons had picked nomination forms to contest for regional positions on the Council of State.

They comprise 107 males and six females and the Electoral Commission gave the breakdown of the contestants as Greater Accra-16, Western Region-six, Central Region-six, Eastern Region-11, and Ashanti Region-19.

The rest are Brong-Ahafo Region-11, Northern Region-11, Upper West-five, Upper East-seven, and Volta Region-21.