Lawan assures of speedy passage of Electoral Act
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has assured of the determination of the National Assembly toward ensuring the quick passage of the amended Electoral Act because they have a duty of providing an atmosphere for democracy to thrive.
Represented by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, the Senate president gave the assurance at the retreat organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in conjunction with members of the National Assembly on the review of the Electoral Act held in Lagos.
“The National Assembly has a unique constitutional gate-keeping role for our democracy. That sacrosanct constitutional duty of protecting our democratic order starts with ensuring that we provide the right electoral legal framework for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections by the commission.
“Ultimately, our collective success as a constitutional democracy depends on truly credible electoral outcomes. Without question, the 9th National Assembly is firmly committed to electoral reforms.
“We recognise across party lines that it is in our nation’s best interest to work together to strengthen our electoral laws and consequently, better protect this very important and consequential democracy on the African continent,” Lawan said.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in his speech called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the bill for the establishment of the National Electoral Offences Commission, saying that the nation can no longer afford to foot drag on the importance of the legislation which would provide the framework for dealing with impunity and brigandage during elections.
Yakubu explained that late last year, the commission received from the Senate Committee on INEC the bill to amend the Electoral Act 2010, pointing out that there are 26 clauses the new bill seeks to amend, including the neutrality of electoral officials, compilation, display and storage of the voters’ register.
Others include legal recognition for electronic accreditation of voters; party primaries and the nomination of candidates for elective offices by political parties as well as a new provision to address the reoccurrence of the Kogi conundrum.
He added that the new amendments also seek to empower the commission to deepen the deployment of technology in the management of the voters’ register as well as voting and result collation processes.
READ ALSO: 55 Zamfara communities, groups receive N413m for projects
Yakubu stressed that the commission has proposed new areas of amendments to the Electoral Act based on their experiences in managing elections.
“For instance, we should find a way to deal with a situation in which returning officers are compelled to declare winners under duress.
“With 809 pre-election petitions filed before the 2019 general elections, the electoral legal framework should provide clear procedures for party primaries and consequences for violation.
“Similarly, the right under the law to file pre-election cases in different categories of high courts often leads to what lawyers call forum shopping by litigants and conflicting judgements by courts of coordinate jurisdiction on the same case, sometimes even on matters already settled by superior courts,” he added.
The INEC chairman also called for new definition of over-voting with emphasis on accredited voters rather than the number of registered voters in a polling unit, saying that doing so would make the management of the margin of lead principle easier and considerably reduce or eliminate the incidence of inconclusive elections, and the cost associated with conducting supplementary elections.
