The Electoral Commission has disclosed that it will initiate processes leading to the creation of a new constituency in the Guan district when the 8th Parliament commences.
At the just-ended general election, the EC could not hold elections for registered voters in the Guan District to elect a Member of Parliament due to the absence of a constituency. A source at the EC told the GNA that the EC was unable to create it because the Constitutional Instrument (CI) needed to create the constituency, which cannot have matured in the 7th Parliament.
Parliament went on recess on November 9, for the December elections and resumed on December 14. The source said the EC cannot lay the CI for amendment of the creation of Constituencies because the 7th Parliament cannot sit for 21 days before its dissolution at midnight, January 6 next year.
In that case, the process will have to start all over again in the 8th Parliament. The CI to be laid will have to stay in Parliament for 21 sitting days and come into force if two-thirds of MPs allow its journey.
It is after the passage of the amended CI that the EC can contemplate the holding of any election in the newly created Constituency. The EC noted that the Supreme Court had ruled on when elections could be held in a newly created Constituency.
The source said it was not a deliberate attempt by the EC to deny the people of representation in Parliament.
