Analysis Of The Electoral Act On Certain Critical Issues.
By E. C Nwuba, Esq.
A) On the submission of the names of validly nominated candidates by the political parties; the position of the law is clear on this.
29. (1) Every political party shall, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed Forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.
So my question is; why did INEC insist that all the Political parties should submit the names of their candidates yesterday as if the commission was running out of time? Why the rush? From my calculation, the political parties would have not been defeated by the time-frame given by the law if they had submitted the names by the end of this month (31-06-2022).
B) On Merger by the political parties; This is no longer possible because the time-frame within which the interested political parties ought to have informed or notified INEC had elapsed. The position of the law is;
81. (1) Any two or more registered political parties may merge on approval by the Commission following a formal request presented to the Commission by the political parties for that purpose.
(2) Political parties intending to merge SHALL each give to the Commission NINE MONTHS ‘ notice of their intention to do so before a general election.
My calculations; From July to February next year (2023) is not up to nine months. And the use of the word “shall” in the above section makes it a mandatory duty on the interested political parties to notify INEC of their intention to merge.
On replacement of the name of a validly nominated candidates by the political parties/INEC before or on submitting same to INEC and substitution of Candidates by the political parties after submitting same to INEC; looking at the position of the law , the INEC/Political parties cannot and doesn’t have the legal power to “suo motu” replace the name of any validly nominated candidate before submitting same to INEC and the political parties doesn’t have the legal power to “suo motu” substitute the name of any validly nominated candidate after submitting same to INEC.
On the aspect of replacement of the names of the validly nominated candidates before submission , the position of the law is;
29. (1) Every political party shall, not later than *180 days* before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed Forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, WHO MUST HAVE EMERGED from VALID PRIMARIES conducted by the political party.
This means that the candidate to be submitted must have emerged from a validly conducted primaries (Direct, indirect or Consensus )
The submission of the names of those who didn’t emerge from a validly conducted primaries by the political parties is a waste of time. The validly nominated candidates replaced by the political parties should approach the court for a redress. Unfortunately, some of the members of the National Assembly who made this law, are also flouting same. Does it mean that they don’t know the content of the Electoral Act which they made?
On the aspect of substitution of candidates after submitting same to INEC , the position of the law is;
33. A political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted under section 29 of this Act, EXCEPT
1) IN THE CASE OF DEATH or
2) WITHDRAWAL BY THE CANDIDATE;
Provided that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall, within 14 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the Commission for the election concerned.
Whence except on the two-limb conditions of death and withdrawal by the candidates the political parties cannot substitute any of the candidates already submitted to INEC.
E. C Nwuba, Esq.
(Legal Practitioner)
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One Response
Thank you sir.
All doubts have been cleared.