One group, the OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative (OAI), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold the presidential and National Assembly elections on different days in the future to avoid a bandwagon effect.
The recommendation was contained in a report on the 2023 general election released by the group on Tuesday in Abuja.
The report, titled; OAI Executive Director Oke Epia presented the Full Report on the 2023 Nigerian General Election (National and State Assemblies in Focus).
For years, INEC has held presidential and National Assembly elections on the same day, while governors’ and state assemblies are also held on the same day.
According to the report, the practice of bundling elections is creating a situation in which National Assembly candidates benefit from a “top-down” voting pattern.
“It is highly probable that the practice of holding elections for legislative and executive offices results in the election of legislators along the lines of a popular tendency instead of an adequate knowledge of the capacity, competence and character of those who seek to be legislators”, states the report.
“This is the result of the predominant attention that the presidential candidates, their political parties and the process itself generate from the media, local and international observers, as well as other actors.
“This trickles down to voters who are often influenced to switch allegiances in accordance with presidential elections, and thus side with the political party that wins the presidency at the federal level. Consequently, this culture often leads to the emergence of winners who largely did not win through their own personal strengths and merits.
To address the issue, the OAI recommended that INEC use its administrative influence to change the current schedule.
The recent presidential and National Assembly elections were held on February 25, while the governor’s and state assemblies were held on March 18.
“The electoral body must deploy its administrative influence to address scheduling to hold elections on separate days for executive and legislative elections,” the group said.
The OAI requested the creation of an electoral sequence in the Electoral Law establishing separate dates for all elections.
“The National Assembly reviews the order and sequence of elections so that executive and legislative votes are held on separate dates. This can be done by amending the electoral law,” he said.
Epia said that the last attempt to impute the electoral sequence in the Electoral Law failed because the policy corrupted the intention.
“There was an attempt to do that in the 8th Assembly; that was political gymnastics. If you want to go for a constitutional amendment, that works; if he opts for a ballot amendment, it would be a faster one. We may want to tell INEC; maybe you should take a look at your law. But the question is, do they have the punch? Do they have the will? Mr Epia said.
Previous attempts at electoral amendment on the electoral sequence
In the Eighth Assembly, the National Assembly approved the Electoral Amendment Project that included an electoral sequence; however, the bill was rejected by former president Muhammadu Buhari.
“The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the main law may infringe the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize, conduct and supervise elections provided for in Section 15(A) of the third statute for the Constitution,” Buhari stated in a letter to both houses of the National Assembly in 2018.
Sections 76, 178, 132 and other sections of the 1999 constitution, as amended, give INEC the power to set dates for elections.
Article 178 establishes that “The election for the office of Governor of a State will be held on the date designated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
In addition, Section 132 provides that “The election for the office of President shall be held on a date designated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
Furthermore, Section 76(1) provides that “Elections for each House of the National Assembly shall be held on a date to be designated by the Independent National Electoral Commission”.
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