In a bid not to run foul of the provisions of the Amended Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 the Independent National Electoral Commission recently released a timetable for the conduct of the 2011 General Elections in January 2011. But having critically reviewed the situation the INEC has requested for extension of time to carry out a successful voters’ registration and make adequate preparations for the forthcoming General Elections.
In a bid not to run foul of the provisions of the Amended Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 the Independent National Electoral Commission recently released a timetable for the conduct of the 2011 General Elections in January 2011. But having critically reviewed the situation the INEC has requested for extension of time to carry out a successful voters’ registration and make adequate preparations for the forthcoming General Elections.
In view of the fact that time is required for the training of staff, registration of voters, political party primaries, political campaigns, pre-election litigation and conduct of elections, the request for extension of time by INEC cannot be faulted. In particular, sufficient time should be given to political parties and their candidates to address the crisis of poverty, underdevelopment, infrastructural decay and collapse of the educational system. In the circumstances, the National Assembly should reconvene without any further delay and amend the Constitution as well as the Electoral Act so as to allow INEC to conduct credible elections in 2011.
Apart from the issue of extension of time the National Assembly should also review the provision for the constitution of Election Petition Tribunals. Since there are no enough Court of Appeal Justices in the Country it is not practicable to make the Court of Appeal the court of first instance in Governorship and House of Assembly Elections.
FEMI FALANA
(Chairman, National Conscience Party)
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