Electoral Amendment Bill Passes Second Reading In The House Of Reps (See Proposal)

An Electoral Amendment Bill sponsored by Rep Francis Ejiroghene Waive (APC) representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in Delta State has Passes Second Reading In The House Of Representatives. See details of the proposal below:

A bill for an act to amend the Electoral Act, 2022 and for Related Matters (HB. 37)

This bill is sponsored by Rep Francis Ejiroghene Waive (APC) representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in Delta State.

The bill which scaled through second reading at the House of Reps yesterday, contains the following amendments as explained by Rep Waive

1. That the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should conduct a fresh registration of voters after every 10 years.

The lawmaker explained that the current exercise of validation and continuous registration as inscribed in Section 10 of the Electoral Act does not do enough to remove persons who are deceased or those involved in double registration.

He advocates that Section 10 be amended to cater for a fresh and clean Voters Register every 10 years.

2. That all elections hold on same day

Considering the enormous amount involved in conducting elections on different days and also been affected, sometimes, by having to postpone elections due to unforseen circumstances, the lawmaker in his sponsored bill proposes the Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly General Elections hold on the same day.

Asides off-cycle elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, Imo, Ondo & Edo States, the lawmaker stressed that this will help remove the bandwagon effect after Presidential Elections.

3. Compulsory Electronic transmission of results

The bill cites an amendment to Section 60, Sub-section (5) of the Electoral Act 2022.

The presiding officer shall transfer the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.

The lawmaker held that the section as it stands is vague and interpreted differently by our Courts hence proposes;

The presiding officer shall transfer and/or transmit the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot ELECTRONICALLY.

4. Frivolous litigants should be fined heavily

The lawmaker queried that many of the petitions at the tribunal shouldn’t have been filed, stressing that it consumes money and time. He stressed that someone with 100 votes will go to Court to challenge someone with 60000 votes in a very frivolous petition.

He seeks that the NASS amends Section 130, sub-section 2 of the Electoral Act 2022

In this Part “tribunal or court” means —
(a) in the case of Presidential election, the Court of Appeal; and
(b) in the case of any other elections under this Act, the election tribunal established under the Constitution or by this Act.

He proposes that those who bring such petitions should be fined heavily, if determined by the Courts to be frivolous.

His Proposal:
Notwithstanding Sub-section 1 above, any person who presents a frivolous petition to the tribunal shall be liable to pay a huge fine to the respondents if the Court so determine that the petition be frivolous and a waste of time.

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