ALL APPEARS to be in place for an Election Day that should be free of many of the elements that have marred past elections. The arrangements have been put in place against the background of uncertainty about the date of the election.
We repeat the point we have made previously that it is time to review the practice by which the Prime Minister has sole authority to set the election date.
We think that in carrying out a process of constitutional reform, setting a fixed date for General Elections should be high on the agenda.
It is at the very least an anachronism for one person to have the power to decide when a General Election will be held. For example, it is not far-fetched that the Prime Minister could decide that despite the heightened state of readiness he will postpone the elections until next year.
Placing that much power in one pair of hands is unacceptable.
The suspense and uncertainty about when the national elections are held can affect orderly planning in both public and private sector. And it can unduly prolong the period of campaigning which absorbs resources and energy which might be applied more profitably elsewhere.
