The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) has petitioned the Attorney-General’s office to sponsor a bill in Parliament changing the 2024 election date from Saturday, December 7, as it is a Sabbath Day for worship activities.
In a letter to the A-G dated January 9, 2024, the Church suggested the first or second Tuesday in November, arguing that it would guarantee a democratic activity that is inclusive and does not purposefully prevent others from exercising their right to vote.
“The proposition from the Adventist Church is to help depeen electoral democracy and ensure that NONE is excluded from participating in the electoral process,” the church said.
The Church revealed that it has already had “positive” engagements with the Electoral Commission on June 7, 2023, which have expressed their willingness to consider their petition.
It also noted that it has had meetings with the National Chief Imam and the leadership of major political parties to enlist their support to amend the voting date for the year 2024 and beyond.
According to the SDA, their position stems from a proposal made by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) in 2011 and the Electoral Reforms Committee in 2015.
“Pursuant to the work of the Constitutional Review Commission (2011) and that of the Electoral Reform Committee (2015), particularly with references to (i) Paragraph 265 at page 193, the CRC recommended the period for elections “not later than 60 days to the installation of a new President and Parliament on January 7. (ii) Likewise, the ECRC suggested a date change from “December 7 to November 7 in Proposal 8 on pages 10 and 11,” the church noted further.
The SDA urged the fast-tracking of the relevant processes in order to ensure consideration by Parliament “to make this change a reality.”
