Apt changes to Electoral Act
Eleven days ago on March 30, 2017 the Senate passed an amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act with the inclusion into it of the Smart Card Reader (SMR) and electronic voting. The amendments were passed at a plenary session presided over by Senate President Bukola Saraki following consideration and adoption of the report of the […]
Eleven days ago on March 30, 2017 the Senate passed an amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act with the inclusion into it of the Smart Card Reader (SMR) and electronic voting. The amendments were passed at a plenary session presided over by Senate President Bukola Saraki following consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on INEC.
Senate added a new clause to section 52 of the Act stating, ‘The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall adopt electronic voting in all elections or any other method of voting as may be determined by the Commission from time to time.” Senate said “The amendment mandates e-voting without ambiguity but also gives the Commission discretion to use other methods if it is not practicable to use e-voting in any election.” Senate also passed a provision that permits INEC to transmit election results electronically in an encrypted and secure manner.
On the use of SCR, Senate substituted section 49 of the Principal Act with “The Presiding Officer shall use a Smart Card Reader or any other technological devise that may be prescribed by the Commission from time to time for the accreditation of voters to verify, confirm or authenticate.’ It would be recalled that the use of SCR in the 2015 general elections was largely responsible for that election’s credibility and general acceptance by Nigerians of the results announced by INEC.
Senate also added a provision that strips president and governors of control of party primaries by excluding political appointees as delegates. It also pegged the fee for presidential, governorship, senatorial and the House of Representatives aspirants at N10m, N5m, N2m and N1m respectively. These provisions are contained in Section 87 of the Principal Act. A new sub-section was also inserted to Section 19 of the Act to compel INEC to display voters’ register for each LGA or ward and on its official website.
Prompted by the controversies that trailed the last gubernatorial election in Kogi State, the amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act provides that if a gubernatorial candidate dies after the commencement of an election and before the declaration of a winner, ‘the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh direct primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to the Commission to replace the dead candidate; and the Commission shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare a winner.’ The House of Representatives however, in a bill that passed second reading on March 28, proposed an amendment to the Electoral Act that will allow a running mate to replace a gubernatorial candidate who dies before an election in which he is a contestant is concluded. This is not unreasonable but we support Senate’s option as the better one.
Senate’s bill also criminalized falsification of results by INEC officials. The newly introduced offence, which is a sub-section under Section 49 of the Electoral Act states: ‘Any official of the Commission or a State INEC who issues, endorses or certifies a false report or result in respect of an ad-hoc delegates election or primaries of a political party commits an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for five (5) years without an option of fine.’ It would be recalled that an INEC official, Christian Nwosu, confessed to Justice Muhammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, that he received a N30million bribe from former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke to compromise the 2015 general elections.
We support the amendments carried out by the Senate because they together address many of the challenges observed during and after the successful 2015 general elections. We urge both the House of Representatives and President Muhammadu Buhari to uphold these changes and act to pass the Electoral Act into law with minimum delay.