By Dennis Agbo

ABAKALIKI— AHEAD of the scheduled 10 July local government council polls, Ebonyi State government plans to adopt option A4, a system of practically queuing behind candidates of choice during voting.

In this regard, the State House of Assembly has also concluded plans for commencement of public hearing on the amendment of state Electoral Act to accommodate option A4 as a system of voting other than the popular open secret balloting.

The House Chairman on Information and State Orientation Committee, Mr. Eni Uduma Chima, who confirmed the arrangement in an interview with newsmen, said:   “We are engaging on public hearing to know the opinion of the people.   If majority of our constituents desire it as the best, most transparent as they make allusions to the M.K.O. Abiola’s election, then we will have no alternative than to adopt that.”

Opposition political parties in the state, such as the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, is, however, afraid that the balloting system is being considered by the PDP-led government as a way of checkmating aggrieved members of the PDP who have planned to cast protest vote against the party to express their anger on the manner it selected its councillorship and chairmanship candidates for the election.

He asserted that the states, through their Houses of Assembly, have the powers to tinker with the voting system in the council election.

“If you go to Section 53 sub-section 1 of the Electoral Act 2006, there is a provision that voting at any election under this Act shall be open secret ballot, that is to say that other elections which are outside the Act, like that contemplated in Section 7 of the constitution, can be done by another system of voting,” he said.