By Ken Afor
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged political parties to conduct fresh primaries ahead of the scheduled bye-elections in some parts of the country.
This was made known by the Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at an extraordinary consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja, on Monday.
The chairman while briefing party leaders and stakeholders ahead of the elections scheduled for February 2024 noted that the commission is obliged to conduct elections dissolved by the courts, also, the bye-elections in some states in the country will equally be conducted.
The Chairman however, noted that both the re-run elections as ordered by the court and by-elections which are fresh elections will be held the same day in the affected states.
The Chairman further noted that bye-elections will be conducted to fill vacancies in National and State Houses Assembly whose candidates may have died or resigned before the end of their tenures.
His words, “The purpose of this meeting is to brief party leaders on the Commission’s preparation for the forthcoming elections to be held early in the new year. The elections are in two categories. First, as the Election Petition Appeal Tribunals set up in the aftermath of the 2023 General Election gradually wind up their proceedings, the Commission is required to conduct re-run elections in some constituencies by court order. Secondly, the Commission is also required to conduct bye-elections to fill vacancies arising from the death or resignation of members of the National and State Houses of Assembly.
“The Commission intends to combine and conduct the two categories of elections on the same day, the details of which will be discussed at this meeting. As you are aware, re-run elections only involve the parties and candidates that participated in the general election unless a party wishes to replace a deceased candidate.
“However, bye-elections are fresh elections. Consequently, political parties must conduct fresh primaries within the limited period of time provided by law.
“So far, the Election Petition Appeal Tribunals have ordered the Commission to conduct re-run elections in 34 constituencies made up of one Senatorial District, 11 Federal Constituencies and 22 State Assembly constituencies. However, the 34 constituencies constitute 2.8% of the 1,191 petitions filed by litigants.
“Significantly, out of the 34 re-run elections, it is only in three cases that the Commission was ordered to conduct elections in the entire constituencies. In the other 31 constituencies, elections are to be held in a few polling units.
“I want to assure you that at the end of all the litigations, including the Governorship elections pending on appeal at the Supreme Court, the Commission will present a comprehensive analysis of the petitions, including cases where the Commission was ordered to issue Certificates of Return to other candidates and the reasons for the decisions by the Courts as part of the lessons learned from the 2023 General Election for the consequential reforms to improve the conduct of future elections.
“With regard to the bye-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the Commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the National and State Assembly constituencies.
“The Commission is looking at the first week of February 2024 i.e. in just a little over one month to conduct both the re-run and bye-elections. At the end of this consultative meeting, the Commission will meet to review preparations and announce a definite date, including the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections.
“Full delimitation details, including locations, number of Polling Units, registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected in each constituency will be uploaded to our website for public information.”
