President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday signed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021, re-amended by the National Assembly on January 25, 2022.
The Electoral Act made provisions for direct, indirect primaries or consensus as procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions.
It also approved the recommended Clause 84(3) that “a political party that adopts the direct primaries procedure shall ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunity of being voted for by members of the party and shall adopt the procedure outlined below: (a) In the case of Presidential Primaries, all registered members of the party are to vote for aspirants of their choice at a designated centre at each ward of the federation.
It provides further that, “similar procedure as in (a) above, shall be adopted for Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies.
It added that, “Special Conventions should be held to ratify the candidate with the highest number of votes at designated centers at the National, State, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies.
Clause 84(4) further provides that “a political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall adopt the procedure outlined below; (a) In the case of nominations to the position of Presidential candidate, a political party shall, (i) hold special presidential convention at a designated centre in the Federal Capital Territory or any other place within the Federation that is agreed to by the National Executive Committee of the party.
It provides further in sub-paragraph two (ii) that, “the aspirant with the highest number of votes at the end of voting, shall be declared the winner of the Presidential primaries of the political party and the aspirant name shall be forwarded to the Commission as the candidate of the party.”
