Amended Electoral Act will guarantee free, fair elections -INEC chair

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmud, has assured that the amended Electoral Act will guarantee free and fair elections in the country.

The INEC Chairman made the assertion during a courtesy call to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Thursday.

Prof. Mahmud, who commended the Senate for the swift passage of the Amended Act, thanked the Upper Chamber for keeping to their promise to work conscientiously on the Electoral bill and to ensure that it is quickly passed before the election year.

“I could recall the promise by the Senate to fast-track and complete work on the Electoral Act amendment. I am happy that the promise was kept. We have the bill passed by the Senate two years to the election year,” he said.

The commission chairman further described the bill as the most extensive amendment, adding that all the submissions made by INEC were taken into consideration including some areas where it had challenges.

“The amendment is the most technological version of the Electoral Act and the deployment of technology helped in the conduct of the 2015 election and we are assuring you that 2019 will be better.”

Mahmud also presented a copy of the 2015-2019 strategic plan to the Senate President. He explained that the existence of a full strategy plan has helped a lot in the conduct of previous elections in the country, but stressed that now INEC has come up with a five years plan which evolved through a painstaking process including the stakeholders’ validation.

The plan, according to him, comes with a programme of action projecting and tracking the activities of INEC beyond 2019.

“We are excited that we have the amendment Act well before election,” Mahmud reiterated.

In his remarks, Senate President said that the Bill laid a very good foundation, one that will put Nigeria through electoral process.

Saraki expressed optimism that the House of Representatives will soon pass the Bill. He assured INEC of Senate’s support in the implementation of the strategy plan for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country and that will encourage massive participation.