Nigerian Presidency Says Vote Law Under Review as Protests Loom - Bloomberg
Nigeria’s presidency said it has until the end of the month to review a proposed electoral-reform bill, as a group of civil society organizations prepared nationwide protests calling for the passage of the legislation.
President Muhammadu Buhari is considering the legislation after receiving a draft of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Jan. 31, the presidency said in a statement on Twitter. Under Nigeria’s constitution, Buhari has until March 1 to complete his review.
“Proposed legislation that has to do with the electoral fortunes of the country needs to be thoroughly scrutinized, and be made as near-perfect as possible,” the presidency said. The West African nation is preparing to hold presidential elections in February 2023.
Nigerian lawmakers passed the legislation in January after the removal of a contentious provision proposed by Buhari that compels political parties to adopt only direct primary elections when selecting candidates. The lawmakers also rejected a clause that would have allowed the electronic transmission of results by the Electoral Commission.
At least 26 civil society organizations including Yiaga Africa are preparing to hold a national protest on Tuesday to demand that Buhari immediately approve the law.
“The protest has become necessary due to the heightened fears that the delay will create legal uncertainties that makes our already fragile system vulnerable to capture, and shocks that we may not managed well,” said Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa. The advocacy group wants the clause allowing electronic transmission of results to be included.
A previous attempt to pass the legislation in 2018 failed after Buhari rejected amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the country’s 2019 elections, saying they infringed on the constitutional role of the electoral commission to organize elections.
source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-21/nigerian-presidency-says-vote-law-under-review-as-protests-loom
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.