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Fourteen political
parties, including the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have
rejected a new set of guidelines on the conduct of political parties
during elections, issued yesterday by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja. The new rules are designed to
encourage political parties to respect electoral laws, while
maintaining only the legally allowable financing window for their
campaigns, INEC said.

Of the 63
registered political parties yesterday, some 47 signed the document — a
review of the code of conduct used in 2007; thus accepting to live with
a new era of “civility and tolerance in politics” as described by the
commission’s chairperson, Attahiru Jega.

Rebels with a cause

But notably,
officials of the PDP, the African Renaissance Party (ARP) and 12 other
parties withheld their signatures to the document, protesting some of
the provisions in a move that is certain to exacerbate concerns over
the approaching elections and the primacy of the electoral body over
parties. The Action Alliance (AA) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) were
disallowed from participating due to legal crisis over positions in the
party. The PDP said INEC had violated an agreement reached with
political parties that some sections of the document would be amended
before the signing ceremony to allow the PDP, as the ruling party
holding 28 states, more representation on a committee of party
chairpersons stipulated in the document. Other parties, including the
Labour Party, the National Democratic Party and the ARP, described the
document as “vexatious and unnecessary,” since requirements on ethics
during polls have been stated in the Electoral Act. The LP and the NCP
however later signed and adopted the document.

“We signed a
similar document in 2007, and the document burned our fingers,” said
Dan Iwanyanwu, the national chairman of the Labour Party. “Under
(Maurice) Iwu, INEC did not keep its side of the bargain. The document
says no party should announce elections result, but they allowed that.”
The NCP chairman, Chudi Chukwani, said remarks made by judges in past
election lawsuits underscored the fact that instead of the political
parties, the problems with the elections in Nigeria lies with the
electoral body.

‘Unfair decisions’

Many opposition
political parties accused the commission of being impartial in the
past, alleging that Nigerians are already witnessing a repeat of unfair
decisions by INEC with the controversial substitution and replacement
of names of candidates for the elections. They told Mr. Jega that while
he may be pursuing true reforms, the situation in the states call for
greater attention and advised him to organize a forum where their
‘findings” from the field could be discussed. The allegations, coming
three weeks to the elections, reinforce growing concerns about the
capacity of the commission to reassure the political class about its
fairness. For instance, while the code of conduct has named a committee
of chairpersons of all political parties to promote fairness and equal
opportunity, the PDP said a sub-committee should also be named that
will take into consideration the numerical strength of each party at
the leadership position.

“The composition of the executive should reflect fairness. There
should be a sub-committee, a steering committee in which the
composition will be constituted with regards to the number of offices
held by the parties,” said the national secretary of the PDP, Abubakar
Baraje after announcing the party’s decision to shun the signing of the
code of conduct. He said chances are that the party will eventually
sign if “we are allowed to make some inputs.” “There are some areas we
are not comfortable with.

That does not mean that the PDP is not
working with INEC or other parties. Sure, if I’m given an opportunity
to make my input, then we can sign it. That’s the mandate of my party,”
he said. Mr. Jega played down the boycott, saying the signing was
optional and again, by the agreement reached with all the parties
earlier, the document would come into force one assented to by 50
percent or more parties. With 47, they got about 75 percent.