Ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the country’s National Assembly has revealed plans to make electronic voting and Smart Card Readers mandatory at the polls, alongside a new amendment to petition submissions.
The decision on electoral voting was made by the Upper Chambers of the house at a Joint Public Hearing on “The Bill for an Act to repeal the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) and enact the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act, 2020″, in the nation’s capital of Abuja. The proposed legislation asks the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to embrace electronic voting in all upcoming polls while making Smart Card readers mandatory to the point that elections conducted without its use, warrants an outright cancellation of polls.
“The presiding officer shall use a smart card reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the commission for the accreditation of voters to verify, confirm or authenticate particulars in a manner prescribed by the commission.”
A newly introduced subsection (3) also reads that “Where a smart card reader deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh card reader is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be canceled, and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours.”
A New Timeline For Election Petitions Submission
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has passed for a second reading, new legislation titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to make further Provisions Relating to the time within which to file and determine Election Petitions and Appeals; and for Related Matters,’ which seeks to alter the constitution to stipulate a timeline within which candidates and the public can file election petitions and appeals.
Factoring the lockdown period which prevented cases from being filed and tried, Hon. Olajide Olatubosun who sponsored the bill asked that such unplanned external factors be taken into consideration when creating a timeline for petition submission.
‘’Consequently, this seeks to amend section 285 of the Constitution by inserting immediately a new subsection (9) to the effect that where there is a force majeure, whether at national or state level, that prevents the filing of petition or sitting of an Election Petition Tribunal or an appellate court, the period of the force majeure shall not be reckoned with in the computation of time under subsections(5), (6) and (7) of the section. This is to prevent the hands of the parties to a petition and the court from being tied in the face of force majeure,” he said.
The National Assembly has also promised to round up deliberations and provide a new Electoral Act by the first quarter of 2021.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
