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Over the week,
federal lawmakers began the final stage of adjusting the constitution to
provide enough time for the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to prepare and deliver credible elections next year without
shifting the May 29 handover date.

Although the efforts
of the lawmakers have offset some of the huddles that might have
chocked INEC if they went ahead with the old timeline, the election
management body still faces obvious timeline challenges.

One of the major
amendments to the constitution is that of the timeline, which has been
widened. The new changes recommend that elections be held not earlier
than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of a
running term.

That gives INEC a
total of four months – between 29 December 2010 to 29 April 2011 –
within which to organise and hold elections. But the Electoral Act gives
INEC the power to fix election dates. But elections would preferably
hold in April 2011.

In a meeting with
the senators early this month, Atahiru Jega, the chairman of INEC, said
if the commission has till April 2011, it will organise a free, fair,
and credible election. Tentatively, elections would hold in April but
not in one day and the furthest the first elections can hold, in
accordance with the law, is on the first weekend of that month.

Section 25 of the
Electoral Act 2010 provides that elections be staggered, with the Senate
and House of Representatives elections coming first. Thereafter, the
Presidential elections and later the state Houses of Assembly and
Governorship elections will hold the same day.

Important dates

The basic for a
credible election is a reliable voters’ register. The Electoral Act
requires that the voters list of each local government, council area, or
ward be displayed for scrutiny not later than 30 days before a general
election.

With the furthest
date for the first election being on the first weekend of April 2011,
the voters’ list must be on display before the first week of March 2011
and that is away.

Currently, the
Bureau of Public Procurement and INEC are yet to finalise the terms on
which the Data Capturing Machines INEC intend to use to conduct a fresh
voters’ register will be purchased.

The purchase of the
Data Capturing Machines is a major step to kick start the process of the
forthcoming general elections and industry experts say the process of
purchasing the machines may take up to 8 weeks or more.

Going by that
estimate, if INEC finalises with BPP this week, voters’ registration may
commence early next year. But if INEC fails to commence the purchase
process early enough in November, voters’ registration may be rushed in
February of next year to beat deadlines, and errors and malpractices
will be inevitable.

Kayode Idowu, INEC’s
public relations officer, however, said his organisation is
“virtually” through with BPP on the process of purchasing the data
capturing machines.

Other important
dates INEC would have to meet with the new timeline include publishing
its election timetable before the end of January.

The 2010 Electoral
Act in section 30 provides that INEC shall publish the date of elections
“90 days before the date appointed for holding of an election.”

Political parties
are also expected to submit to the commission list of the candidates
they propose to sponsor in the election 60 days (2 months) before the
date of the elections.

Reaction chain

Also, with the
latest amendment, the settlement of election cases before swearing-in
dates is no longer practicable in the next general elections.

The new amendment
recommends that an election tribunal shall deliver its judgment on a
case within 180 days (6 months) from the date of the filing of the
petition. It also stipulates that the petitions be filled within 21 days
after the elections.

“An appeal from a
decision of an election tribunal or court shall be heard and disposed
of within 60 days (two months) from the date of the delivery of
judgment of the tribunal,” the new constitution also recommends.

In the case of
presidential and governorship elections – including deputy governors –
the appeals could also go further to the Supreme Court.

Allowing petitions
on governorship elections go up to the Supreme Court is an idea of the
Senate in the amended constitution, but if the House of Representatives
accepts it, it will further extend the time an illegal officer would
occupy political office beyond one year, completely defeating the
initial aim of the first amendment to the constriction.

Ike Ekweremadu, the
deputy Senate president who also heads the Senate ad hoc committee on
constitution review, said the idea of providing for extension of appeal
of governorship election petitions to the Supreme Court for final
determination is to curb the conflicting judgments which arise from
various Courts of Appeal.

The amendments are,
however, not finished yet. As a major part of the process, the Senate
set up a committee to harmonise the differences in the bill passed by
the Senate with that of the House of Representatives.

Thereafter, a clean copy of the bill will be sent down to the state
Houses of Assembly for the assent of at least 24 of the states before
the amendment will become a law.