Electoral Forum commends President Buhari for assenting to the Electoral Bill 2022
Bridget Tyam
February 28, 2022
Professor Adebayo Olukoshi, Chairman of The Electoral Forum has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the Electoral Bill 2022.
As contained in a statement signed by the Chairman, Electoral Reform ,said the forum expressed pleasure to have been a part of the process that led to the enactment of this new law.
According to him we held numerous technical sessions deliberating on key provisions of the Bill,
making recommendations, and engaging with key law- and policymakers, including members of the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
“We are delighted that some of our recommendations on earlier versions of the
Bill have now been reflected in the law. These include the following:The mode of voting and transmission of results is to be determined by INEC
(section 50(2)).
” INEC has the power to review results declared under duress (section 65).Political parties have the power to choose the form of primaries to adopt (section 84),the forum said.
Ultimately, we are convinced that the Electoral Act 2022 is a step in the right direction, as it provides an enabling framework for the conduct of credible elections come 2023.
We further urge the National Assembly, in future amendment efforts, to consider other contentious areas that require electoral reform, including the mode of appointment of INEC members, timelines for by-elections, and campaign finance.
” We are confident that these continuous efforts at improving the electoral legal framework will yield positive
results in subsequent elections, with attendant positive effects for our democracy,the statement said.
” Having gone through the entire process, an earlier version of the consolidated Bill was
transmitted to the President for assent in November 2021.
“However, the President
declined assent primarily because of the provision that mandated political parties to conduct direct primaries,”he said.
Accordingly, the National Assembly amended the Bill and
transmitted it back to the President in January 2022.
Under the amended Bill, parties were
allowed to adopt direct primaries, indirect primaries, or consensus as the mode of
selecting their candidates.
The process of enacting this new law has been long. Since the
beginning of the 2019-2023 electoral cycle, the ninth National Assembly has been drafting the Bill, consulting with stakeholders, and inviting comments from citizens
during public hearings.
Finally, on 25 February 2022, the President assented to the
Bill, which has now become the Electoral Act 2022.
The Electoral Forum is an initiative of The Electoral Hub that pools resource persons
from electoral management bodies together with other electoral stakeholders to conceptualise solutions to the unique problems facing electoral governance in Nigeria.
It is chaired by Professor Adebayo Olukoshi and supported by the MacArthur Foundation
and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).