INEC mulls electoral amendment be finalised 12 months to general election

In the quest to provide for effective planning and logistics,the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has called for early presentation of proposed amendments to the Electoral Legal Framework, which should be concluded at least 12 months to the next general election.

This call was contained in a 125-page report entitled: ‘Review of the 2019 General Election’ which was formally released by the chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, in Abuja.

The report also specified the challenges encountered during the 2019 polls.

Recall, the commission has earlier proposed the amendment of the Electoral Legal Framework to boost the deployment of technology and reduce the cost of elections in the country.

The report recommended that appropriate steps should be taken to exercise powers under Section 285A of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Section 78 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) regarding the registration status of political parties that are in breach of the statutory provisions.

The report stated that there is a need to “collaborate with other stakeholders to advocate for amendments proposed by the Commission regarding requirements for the registration of political parties, access to the ballot by registered political parties, period for publication of personal particulars of candidates.”

The report also advocated for the creation of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal with powers to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders.

On nomination process, it harped on the need to engage with political parties to promote adherence to all regulations, guidelines governing the nomination of candidates for elections and training of officials of political parties to enhance their knowledge of the nomination process.

The report further recommended the early commencement of the procurement process and timely release of adequate funds to the commission for the procurement of required goods and services.

The report, however, called for a comprehensive review of the function and responsibilities of the procurement department with the view of improving its efficiency and capacity to deliver.

On ICT and internet services, it stressed on the need to explore the possibility of real-time registration, whereby, voter data after registration on the DDCM is automatically transmitted to temporary storage at the backend, pending approval by an administrator before such registration is consolidated into the national database, to resolve issues mostly relating to multiple registrations, data loss and other unforeseen circumstances.

The report recommended a mandatory Post-Training Certification Process for registration officers and ad-hoc staff to ensure their suitability and capacity for the use of ICT equipment for election.

It also stressed on the need to carry out voter fingerprint forensic analysis to identify poor quality fingerprints for a recaptured update.

On voter registration and Permanent Voters Card Collection, the report said the CVR exercise and PVC collection by registered voters should be sustained and resumed immediately at the LGA level only.

“The Commission should consider acquiring new technology and data capture systems for CVR exercise; Improvement of the voter registration process to accommodate online registration,” it added.

On general preparedness, it recommended the delivery of all non-sensitive election materials to state and FCT offices 30 days to any election to ensure proper audit and quality assurance, provision of adequate storage facilities for the LGA offices without prototype buildings and creation of one additional zonal store per geo-political zone to ease the current logistics challenges in the storage and distribution of electoral and related materials,” the report concluded.