The move by 18 political parties to have the June 3 deadline for the conduct of primary elections and resolution of conflicts arising therefrom, extended has suffered another setback.
This is as civil society organisations (CSO) on Wednesday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stick to its timeline which fixed party primary elections for between April 4 and June 3.
The political parties under the banner of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on Tuesday asked INEC to extend the timeframe by two months to August 4.
INEC had at the beginning of the meeting told IPAC that it will not review or extend the timeline for primaries as doing so will affect other activities and put unnecessary pressure on political parties and the commission.
Speaking on behalf of the CSOs at a meeting with the commission, Ene Obi, convener of the Civil Society Situation Room, prevailed on INEC to exert its independence and disregard the demand of the political parties.
Obi said: “As we commend the commission, we also ask you to stick with your dates and the deadlines. We watched keenly your meeting with the political parties on Tuesday.
Read also: Again, INEC warns parties to stick to timelines for primaries
“Your independence is there and we are urging you, unless you are not enabled by the Federal Government; if it does not give you the wherewithal to deliver, then we have issues there but stick to your rules and independence”.
She further expressed worry over the high cost of nomination forms which politicians are still buying and urged INEC to improve on the electoral processes, especially with the deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS).
She said: “In a country that is the poverty capital of the world, people are sprinkling money.”
Yabagi Sani, IPAC chairman had explained that their request was necessitated by some issues such as the Christian Lenten season and the Muslim fasting in the month of Ramadan, followed by the celebrations of Easter and Eid El Fitr in which the vast majority of party members were involved.
He said: “The developments inevitably, therefore, greatly disrupted planned activities and programmes of the political parties, leading to the loss of about two weeks out of the allotted time of the timetable.
But Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman had insisted that the review of the timelines will ultimately result in more complications than what the extension seeks to achieve.
He said: “Twice in the last two weeks, the commission had cause to remind political parties of the necessity for strict compliance with the timelines for party primaries.
“I hereby reiterate the position of the commission that there will be no review of the timelines. There are so many inter-related activities that are associated with the timelines which must be carried out.”
Meanwhile, Yakubu has said that the commission would finalise the regulations and guidelines based on the Electoral Act, 2022 next week to guide the conduct of future elections, including the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship elections as well as the 2023 general elections.
“Beyond the conduct of primaries by political parties, the commission is required to make regulations and guidelines for the implementation of the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“These regulations and guidelines, together with the Constitution and the Electoral Act, constitute the electoral legal framework that governs the conduct of elections.
“There are many progressive provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 which require clear understanding to guide implementation. One of such provisions is the electronic transmission of election results.
“At this meeting, we will discuss the implementation of the provisions of Sections 60, 62 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022 regarding the management of election results. We have prepared a document for discussion which is included in your folders for this meeting.
“Section 54(2) of the Electoral Act makes provision for assistive materials for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). This is another progressive provision of the new Electoral Act.
“Over the years, we have worked with the disability community in designing some of the assistive materials such as the Braille Ballot Guide and the provision of magnifying glasses for visually challenged voters and posters for the deaf,” he said.
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