Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that the lingering controversy over the mode of primaries could truncate the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The Electoral Amendment Bill is awaiting President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent after it was passed by the National Assembly.
The president has written to INEC seeking advice on the bill.
Fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, said the acrimony generated by the mode of primaries was needless.and could affect the 2023 general elections.
He said from the country’s political experience, one of the biggest challenges has been the inability of political parties to organise primaries without squabbles even though conduct of primaries ought to be a normal routine in every electoral process.
He said: “The position of INEC, as the impartial umpire, is the position of the directives of the extant legal framework. As managers of the electoral process, the commission has institutional memories and knowledge of the advantages and pitfalls of the different methods of conducting party primaries. But as Alexander Pope said, ‘For forms, mode or methods, it’s scarcely necessary to contend because what is best administered is best.
“In other words, there’s nothing inherently so good or bad about indirect or direct primary to warrant the ongoing acrimony that may affect other profound provisions of the current bill, given that this issue of direct primary is just one item in the bill.
“We must avoid a repeat of the ‘third term’ situation whereby just one obnoxious item in a single bill truncated the entire bill. We must bear in mind that one common formula for success in any approach chosen depends on the sincerity of those who lead and manage these parties as well as those who participate in those primaries conducted by political parties.”
