Nigeria General Elections To Hold November 2010
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Barring any last minute changes, the 2011 general elections may hold in November this year.
This followed a recommendation for the adoption of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee’s report by the joint technical committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on the review of the constitution.
It was gathered in Abuja on Monday that the joint committee chose to adopt the recommendation to “save time, energy and resources” as well as assuage public anger.
A source close to the committee revealed that it was agreed in principle to work towards holding the elections between 120 days and 240 days before the end of the tenure of an outgoing government.
The committee also voted in favour of independent candidacy with a caveat that such candidates would be ineligible to contest party primaries.
Another proposal adopted by the joint committee was that the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly were to be included in the first line charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation.
Both committees are also considering outlawing cross-carpeting by persons voted on the platform of a particular political party.
Already, machinery has been put in place to formally adopt these recommendations at a retreat scheduled to hold in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, on February 25, 2010.
It was also gathered that the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives had agreed to this plan.
The source, who preferred anonymity, said, “Non-fundamental provisions in the constitution dealing with elections have been deleted and transferred to the proposed Electoral Act, 2010.
“In many instances, these provisions have been modified to cure identified mischiefs and to reflect practical realities.
“Provisions in the body of the constitution dealing with matters of procedure in election petitions have either been accommodated in the schedules or deleted entirely from the constitution and moved to the proposed Electoral Act, 2010.
“But I will caution that its contents should not be finalised at the present time until we are sure that the proposals on the amendments to the 1999 Constitution have come into effect.”
Section 132 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution reads: “An election into the office of the President shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Election Commission;
“An election to the said office shall be held on a date not earlier than 60 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of that office.”
The Senate and House committees had in December 2009 set up separate technical committees of experts to look into the issue of electoral reforms.
Members of the Constitution Review Committees in both chambers of the National Assembly decided to go their separate ways early last year over a dispute as to whether the leader of the House committee should be designated co-chairman.
There are, however, fears that the constitutional provision requiring that elections must hold only 60 days before an incumbent President or governor leaves office, could pose a major challenge.
In order to address this, the joint committee is working round the clock to ensure that the relevant sections of the constitution are amended to reflect the new thinking.
The Uwais committee had taken cognisance of the current situation where election matters remained unresolved more than two years after such elections were held before making its recommendations.
The National Assembly’s joint committee, it was gathered, was influenced by the need to allow election disputes to be dispensed with at the various levels of litigation before the winner is sworn into office.
This, in the thinking of most members, will take care of the credibility and legitimacy problems currently facing elected public officers.
Source: Punchng.com
Filed Under: Featured • Information Nigeria • Nigeria Politics
