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Nigeria’s electoral body seeks more power for self.
In its determination to improve on its performance in subsequent polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has written the National Assembly seeking amendments to the 1999 Constitution (amended) and the Electoral Act, 2010 (amended).
In the letter dated June 13 and addressed to the Senate President, David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, the Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, reminded the federal legislature of its request for the amendments last November, which are yet to be effected. It also introduced a few other requests to strengthen the earlier ones.
The letter, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES read in part: “Please, recall that in November 2012, the Independent National Electoral Commission submitted a compilation of sections of the Constitution and Electoral Act in respect of which amendments were proposed to the National Assembly. As you are aware, the proposals are based on observed shortcomings in the management of the electoral process.
“I urge you to kindly consider and give speedy effect to the proposals for Amendments to the Electoral Act which will strengthen the electoral legal framework as the Commission begins its preparations towards the 2015 Elections. A copy of the proposed amendment is attached hereto.”
The Sections of the Electoral Act INEC is seeking amendment to include Section 8, 13, 18, 25, 28, 30 and 33.
The amendments
In Section 8 of the Act, which deals with the tenure of the Secretary of the Commission, the electoral body is pushing for a four-year renewable period for the position as against the current five years single tenure.
“This should be amended to include a statutory tenure for the Secretary – the Secretary shall serve for four years which may be renewable for another four years. Thus, a new paragraph (c) should be inserted under subsection (1) of Section 8,” it said.
The Commission also suggested that Section 13 Subsection 2 (Transfer of Voters) be amended to make an applicant seeking for the transfer of registration as a voter accompany the application, made to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, with his/ her voter’s card not later than 60 days before the date of the election.
Proposing an amendment with regards to days of election, INEC said, “In consonance with the amendments suggested to Sections 76, 116, 132 and 179 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, there is the need for a consequential amendment to Section 25 of the Electoral Act as amended by deleting some words and phrases in the section. ”
It is also seeking amendment to Section 28 (1) which deals with the oath of neutrality and loyalty of its staff partaking in any election with an undertaking to defend their actions when called upon in any election tribunal.
In the proposed amendment, INEC suggested that such oaths should also apply to registration and all electoral activities (including referendum). It also said that the oath may be taken before any court of law or Commissioner for Oaths and not just High Court as currently obtains.
The Commission is seeking to limit conduct of bye-elections to two periods yearly. It therefore suggested to the federal legislature that Section 30 (3) should be deleted consequent upon the proposal that the provision of Sections 75 (2) and 116 (2) of the Constitution be amended to allow for the two periods for conduct of elections to fill vacancies (bye elections).
It also proposed that Section 31 (1) (List of Candidates), should be made subject to Section 87 of the Electoral Act while the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section (1) of Section 31 should be deleted.
“The reason for this proposal is that the Commission cannot disqualify a person who has qualified as a candidate under Section 87. The proviso to Section 31 takes away the import of Section 87 and it is therefore undemocratic,” INEC explained.
Guided by the provisions of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, which requires candidates of political parties to emerge from democratically conducted primary elections, INEC recommended that political parties should submit the name of a candidate who won a primary election along with the name of the candidate who scored the second highest number of votes at the primaries as the substitute candidate.
It therefore canvassed the amendment of Section 33 of the Act by numbering the existing Section 33 as subsection (1) and introducing a new subsection (2) to take care of the proposal.
In Section 45 which deals with Polling Agents, the Commission proposed that parties should given sufficient time to sort out who their agents would be and that the time should be extended from seven days to 14 days.
It, however, suggested that such notice shall be accompanied with two passport photographs of each polling agents and sample signatures of the polling agents, all of which will be useful for production of identification cards.
Improvement of voting procedure
Furthermore, INEC says Sections 48, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55 and 60 of the Electoral Act, which provides details on the procedure to vote in an election are restrictive and do not allow for improvement on procedure for voting.
Consequently, the Commission suggested that it should be allowed through Regulations/Guidelines to determine the mode of voting at an election.
Accordingly, it said that the sections should be replaced with the following “Voting at an election under this Act shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by Independent National Electoral Commission.”
INEC noted that to further promote internal democracy, the emergence of candidates for elections should be on a democratic basis.
It therefore said that a variant of the provision in Section 87 (9) of the Act (before amendment) should be re-introduced thus: “Where a political party fails to comply with the provision of the Constitution or this Act in the conduct of the Primaries or nomination of any candidate for elections under this Act, its candidate for the affected constituency shall not be included in the list of nominated candidates for the election.”
In the spirit of Section 285 of the Constitution, which makes provision for timeline for the determination of election matters, INEC said there was the need for timeline determination of pre-election matters to reduce distractions and allow the elected officials to settle down early enough in their respective offices.
The Commission therefore proposed that “any action challenging the conduct of primaries by a political party shall be filed within 14 days in the accrual of the cause of action. In this regard, subsection (9) of Section 87 of the Electoral Act2010 (as amended) be further amended by including timeline within which a candidate shall seek redress…”
Other areas of the Act which the electoral body is seeking amendment to include Contribution to Political Parties, functions of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Area Councils in FCT, Women Participation in Politics and Delimitation of Constituencies.
Disqualification of candidates
In its previous letter last year to the constitution review committees of the Senate and the House, INEC had demanded among other things, sweeping powers in order for it to be the sole authority on the disqualification of candidates as well as determine the names of political parties that would have their names and logos on the ballot papers.
By the provisions of the Electoral Act, INEC can only disqualify a candidate based on judicial orders.
In making its case, the Commission said: “The commission should be empowered to disqualify any candidate, if there is a prima facie case shown from the presentation that the candidate is unqualified, after all, it (INEC) is not only a management body, it is also a regulatory one and should have some powers in this regard just like such bodies as the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) or Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in revoking bank licences, approving bank director nominees, or National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in sealing unregistered pharmaceutical premises or seizing bad or expired drugs.”
Accordingly, it said that the constitution and Electoral Act should be amended to: “Disqualify candidates who evidently do not satisfy the requirements for the position, he or she is vying for as provided in 65, 66, 106 107, 131, 137, 177 and 182 of the Constitution.”
INEC also sought powers to disqualify for 10 years anyone convicted for electoral offences by a court or tribunal, as well as powers to determine the names of political parties that would have their names on the ballot papers.
Sequence of election
The Commission also asked for powers to determine the dates of presidential, National Assembly and other elections, noting that for the Electoral Act to be the sole determinant of any election is not proper.
It said, “Elections to each House of the National Assembly shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
The same amendments were proposed for the conduct of the presidential and governorship as well as the state Houses of Assembly elections.
Kayode Idowu, spokesperson of the INEC Chairman, said although he was privy to the letter addressed to the presiding officers of the National Assembly, any such correspondence was meant to remind the legislature of its earlier proposals.
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