Challenges to activities for 2011 elections (3)

By Festus Okoye
This nomination must get to the Independent National Electoral Commission 60 days before the date appointed for the general elections. This is in accordance with section 31(1) of the Act.  It seems to me that the register cannot be any other register other than that register referred to in section 10(4) of the Act which is the register in existence as at the time the Commission notifies the general public of the pending election.

This is because if the Commission relies on the provisions of section 20 of the Act as the period for the publication and certification of the register, it must read the said section in conjunction with section 10(6) of the Act which provides that as soon as claims and objections have been dealt with or the period for making claims and objections has expired, the supplementary list shall be included in the revised register, which shall be certified by the Commission as the official register of voters for the purposes of any election conducted under the Act and supersedes all previous registers.

The point here is that the Electoral Management Body must certify a register as the official register of voters for use in the election before the 21st day of February 2011 being the last day of submission of nominations forms by political parties for all elections. It is submitted that the official Register of voters for the election to be published by the Independent National Electoral Commission on the 2nd day of March 2011 cannot be the register that has been certified for the election.

The implication of this is that the existing voters register compiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2006 is the official register for the 2011 elections. What will be embarked upon on the 15th day of January 2011 is the updating and revision of the existing voters register. Unless, this position is clarified, it means that candidates nominated in accordance with section 32(1) of the Act by the 31st day of January 2011 have been nominated by persons that are not on the official voters register certified by the Commission since the Commission will only certify a voter’s register on the 2nd day of March 2011. The implication is obvious.

Submission of Names of Party Agents for All Elections.

Section 45 of the Act provides that each Political Party may by notice in writing addressed to the Electoral Officer of the Local Government or Area Council, appoint a polling agent for each polling unit and collation centre in the Local Government or Area Council for which it has a candidate and the notice shall set out the name and address of the polling agent and be given to the Electoral Officer at least 7 days before the date fixed for the election.

This is a very important and germane provision and locates a party agent to a particular polling unit. It also makes for proper identification of Party Agents for purposes of election petition and in cases of violence at polling units. The Electoral Officers in the various Local Governments must take this assignment as an article of faith as it has the tendency to limit challenges faced from party agents who run from one polling unit to the other causing crisis and mayhem.

Publication of Notice of Poll

With the publication of the Notice of Poll for all elections in accordance with the provisions of section 46 of the Act, the Commission shall specify the day and hours of the poll, the persons entitled to vote and the location of polling units. This means that it is the Commission that has the discretion to establish and determine the location of polling units as provided in section 42 of the Act. It is important for the Commission to use the period of the registration of voters to carry out limited adjustment of polling units.

Some polling units are located in inappropriate places like mechanics workshops, motor parks, churches, houses of traditional rulers, people’s houses and local eateries. This leads to the appropriation of some of the polling units by such individuals and in cases of violence, innocent persons lose their houses and valuable. Security agents also have difficulty in controlling the proceedings in those difficult places.

It is also important that the Presiding Officers must be trained and shown the location of their Polling Units before Election Day to avoid a situation where Presiding Officers spend the whole day trying to locate the Polling Unit assigned to them.
Concluding Remarks

It is important that all the stakeholders in the electoral process should show understanding and assist the Independent National Electoral Commission give the Nigerian people something to be proud of in terms of credible elections.