The senate, on Thursday, passed the new Electoral Act into law with an implication that all political parties must hold their primaries before November this year.
Section 32 of the Electoral Act stipulates that all political parties must submit the list of candidates they intend to sponsor for the general elections 60 days before the date appointed for the general election.
“Every political party shall, not later than 60 days before the date appointed for a general election under the provision of this Act, submit to the commission (Independent National Electoral Commission) in the prescribed forms, the list of the candidates that the party proposes to sponsor at the election,” the Electoral Act now reads.Photos:Head of Senate Mark & INEC Boss Jega
Before now, political parties were required to submit their list of nominees four months before the election - December. Those days, general elections held only less than two months before the expiration of running tenures - March.
In a complete departure from the old laws, the new Electoral Act prohibits the withdrawal of nominated candidates whose name has been submitted to INEC, unless the nominee willingly applies to be withdrawn - through his party - or dies.
The former Act only required political parties to write INEC about their intention to substitute a candidate stating “cogent and verifiable reasons.” In addition, withdrawal of candidates can only take place 45 days before the date appointed for the general elections.
Also, any person who wishes to have access to information on any aspirant’s nomination form and affidavits is now empowered by the law to apply to INEC for the information for a fee. INEC is mandated by the law to supply such information within 14 days from the receipt of the application and required fee.
Staggered election
The new Electoral Act changed the sequence with which elections are conducted. The old act gave INEC the power to sequence every election. However, only election into the offices of the chairman and vice chairman and membership of an area council was left to the dictate of INEC.
A similar version of new Electoral Act has been passed by the House of Representatives and a harmonised version of the Act will be transmitted to the president for assent in coming weeks. The Act will take its full effect after the presidential assent.
Jega seeks 55bilion Naira to Umpire Elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it will require at least N55.1 billion to organise a “substantially more credible” voters register ahead of the 2011 general election.
The commission’s chairperson, Attahiru Jega, told a delegation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who visited him in his office in Abuja yesterday that the money is required to purchase the requisite technology to produce a credible voters register. “We can use N55 billion as the cost of equipment alone if we buy directly from the manufacturers since it will cost 2,000 dollars per unit.”
He explained that the equipment “will be a laptop-based unit plus the accessories for finger printing and a high resolution camera that can capture the pictures and complete the entire exercise within a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes.” He noted that by going directly to the manufacturers, the commission will not only get better quality products but will thereby save about N16 billion or more from the procurement. He hoped the commission’s proposal to the government would be approved before August 11.
Whilst calling for a review of the procurement process, Mr Jega lamented that the current procurement process involves the use of vendors and it did not permit direct purchase from the manufacturers. He blamed the process for disrupting the 2006 voters register.
“As soon as the contract was signed with credible partners, (in 2006) they were abandoned and fake equipment was purchased, some with expired licences and that was what affected the voter registration exercise in 2006” he explained.
He also noted that though funds had been made available for the election, “there is a funding gap of close to N10 billion. Some important personnel costs were not captured in the funding,” he said.
