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A Stubborn INEC, Looking for Trouble

Mobolaji E. Aluko, Ph.D.

Saturday, May 4, 2002

Alukome@aol.com

1. Introduction

It is very clear that we have a very stubborn Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headed by Dr. Abel Guobadia, and it is looking for serious trouble in the Nigerian polity. Despite all the hullabaloo in the National Assembly and buzz in the Nigerian populace, in releasing its latest registration guidelines for the party, INEC has just gone ahead to include several severely circumscribing sections in the guidelines which it released yesterday May 3, 2002.

Let us look at those obnoxious sections ad seriatim:

2. New Parties and Participation in LG elections

QUOTE

INEC Party Guidelines (draft)

10. 1) A newly registered political party shall in the first place participate only in the local government elections.

UNQUOTE

Then, we have the following sections 2 and 4:

QUOTE

INEC Party Guidelines (draft)

3. An application by a political association seeking registration as a political party (hereinafter referred to as “an Association”) shall be addressed to the Chairman of the Commission and submitted to the Commission’s headquarters not later than 4 p.m on the 180th day preceeding the commencement of the next general elections. (States and federal elections)……….

4. No association by whatever name called shall be registered as a political party unless the association submits to

the chairman of the Commission in person not later than 4 p.m on the 150th day preceeding the next general

elections the following documents;

(a) The names, signature, residential addresses and states and local government areas of origin respectively of the members of its national and state executive committees and the records of proceedings of the meeting where these officers were elected; …………..

UNQUOTE

First, there is a procedural question how about timing: one would hope that INEC would always announce the date of the “commencement of the next general elections. (States and federal elections)” MUCH earlier than 180 days prior to it, so that those who wish to form new parties can begin to count backwards! As obvious as that sounds, you never know.

What does this mean for the PRESENT crop of new parties? INEC has announced the next general elections to be “sometime” in April of 2003 – really Saturday April 5, 12, 19 or 26. [INEC is still hedging on dates as it negotiates staggering the elections between the Presidential, Gubernatarial and National Assembly elections. ] So parties have up until October 5 (or thereabout) to register if that commencement of general elections is April 5.

However, the next local government elections have now been set for August 10, 2002. It therefore appears that parties will be allowed to continue to register a full two months after the August 10 date.

This requires some clarification. This confusion, if not straightened out, confirms what the grapevine says: that even the August 10 date as fixed by the states in a negotiation with the Federal Government was a ruse to ensure that the local government elections were still held when the Federal Government/INEC really wants it to hold - sometime next year.

Finally, a party should be free to choose whichever election it will participate in or which it will sit out of: local, state or federal. Let its choice determine its fortune.

3. New Parties and Participation after LG elections

QUOTE

2) The newly registered political party shall thereafter participate in the state and national elections, if, and only if, it scores ten percent of the seats during the LGA Elections in each of, not less than 24 states of the federation including Abuja.

3) Where the newly registered political party fails to score 10 per cent of the seats during the LGA elections as envisaged by Paragraph 10(2) of these guidelines, the political party shall continue to operate only at local government level in all subsequent elections as envisaged by paragraph 10(1) until such a time it complies with the provisions of Paragraph 10(2) of these guidelines.

UNQUOTE

Nothing shows the stubbornness of this INEC more than these two obnoxious sections that have been debated both in and out of the National Assembly, and agreed to be undemocratic and unconstitutional. In fact, in the pending Electoral Law 2002, the Senate has abandoned it even though the House, in a fit of pique, is still clinging on to 15% sponsorship of candidates in the Local government elections.

What are the considerations here?

First, parties are ideological organs of electoral politics, and to place winning hurdles on them in the Local Government elections as marks of acceptability or otherwise on a national level is to encourage desperation in the polity. At the local level, party politics is far less important than the capabilities of the personalities, and that is why the world over the farther you are from the center, the less there is emphasis on party politics.

Secondly, what is so magical about 10% and 24 states? Imagine this scenario: Assuming that this condition applies ONLY to new parties, suppose a new party scores 9% in 24 states (hence not qualified to go to the general elections) while an existing party (presumably which had in a previous election scored more than 10% in 24 states, or had been approved through some other means) now scores 1% in 2 states: this rule implies that the existing but poorly-performing party can participate in general elections while the new, greatly-more popular party is prevented from taking part.

4. Evidence and Size of Party Membership

INEC has demanded evidence of names of members, their addresses and thumprints, party meeting and bank records, state and federal executive compositions, etc. members who should be “voters in at least 24 states of the federation and FCT who are members of the association and do not belong to any other political party or any other political association..”, which will then be verified through “(a) display the list of the names on the application and membership of the political association as contained in the documents submitted to the commission, in every state and LGA of the federation for seven (7) days for public scrutiny and objections….”

Lord have mercy – this will be rather a burden if you have 33 parties registering! INEC would have to compare and contrast lists of membership across all the 33 parties to eliminate double party membership? Why do you need “public scrutiny” for this phase, when the public will still be called upon anyway to choose among party candidates?

More importantly, it is conceivable that all parties will satisfy the minimum requirements: would the parties now, as it was done during the Abacha/Abdusalami years, be graded based solely on how one exceeds the other in the number of states it opens offices in, the number of verifiable members it claims it has in at least 24 states, etc., and then some would be denied recognition while others will sail through? Is SIZE OF MEMBERSHIP of party now a credible stamp for pre-approval of a party even before it TESTS it popularity in a popular voting process?

5. Qualification for Individual Membership of Parties

According to Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution:

QUOTE

40. Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests:

Provided that the provisions of this section shall not derogate from the powers conferred by this Constitution on the Independent National Electoral Commission with respect to political parties to which that Commission does not accord recognition..……..

UNQUOTE

Consequently, INEC is indeed given power to recognize parties but none to prescribe its membership. So it has no constitutional right to prevent ,in its Section 6

“(c) ..a traditional ruler; (d) ..a member of the public service of the federation or of a state as defined by

the Constitution; (e) ..a member of the Armed Forces of the federation or of the Nigeria Police Force or

security and paramilitary organs of the government”

from exercising their constitutional rights to be members of any party per section 40 of the Constitution, provided that they are of voting age, that is above eighteen years old.

Note that his domain may prevent a traditional ruler; the Civil service may prevent its members; the armed forces may prevent their members from joining political parties as a precondition to be employed or a condition for continuance in office, but INEC has no such right under law. Particularly, a blanket ban on millions of non-policy-making, non-confidential government employees such as expressed in (d) is a serious erosion in fundamental citizens’ rights.

6. And What Should be Done?

Clearly, these obnoxious sections must be abandoned for the sake of peace in the country, and I hope that they are roundly rejected by the 33 prospective new parties scheduled to meet with INEC and the existing three parties in the next few days.

First, if what INEC wishes to do is to ensure that NATIONAL PARTIES are established, then it is test in NATIONAL (general) elections rather than local government elections that it should use to RECOGNIZE such parties. To use local government elections to test national strength is quite paradoxical. The minimum first test should be at least how the parties do in first statewide elections – that is the gubernatorial elections.

Secondly, a party exists only to the extent that it is placed on the BALLOT paper used in voting. Therefore, all parties could be REGISTERED, but only those that pass certain qualifications will be RECOGNIZED through inclusion of the names of their candidates in ballot papers, and only those that win a certain number of votes will qualify for matching funds from the government . Thus RECOGNITION really means BALLOT ACCESS and possibility of GOVERNMENT MATCHING FUNDS.

My closing seven suggestions?

INEC should register all new parties that seek registration and have offices in at least 24 states in the country and Abuja. That is, each can have members and can be voted for in any elections, although they may not appear in ballots in all elections.
INEC should recognize, for local government elections, ALL such new parties.
INEC should recognize, for state assembly and gubernatorial elections, ALL new parties, new parties that SPONSOR qualified gubernatorial candidates in at least 24 states;
INEC should recognize, for presidential and national assembly elections, all new parties that win at least 5% of the popular votes in the gubernatorial votes in at least 24 states.
INEC shall recognize, as a national party qualified for matching funds, only those parties that win at least 5% popular in at least 24 states in the presidential elections.
INEC should stagger the general elections as follows:
1. first: Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections
2. three/four weeks later: Presidential & National Assembly Elections
Recognition of a party, once given, can be withdrawn if a recognized party fails to win more than 5% in the presidential elections in two consecutive general elections.

_______________________

BIBILIOGRAPHY

http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/mqb061801baluko.htm

MONDAY QUARTERBACKING: Staggering Our Electoral Process

Mobolaji E. Aluko

June 18, 2001

http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/sm120901baluko.htm

Sunday Musings: The National Assembly, the President and the Electoral Law

Mobolaji E. Aluko

December 9, 2001

http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/mwe010302baluko.htm

Mid-Week Essay: Before We Applaud Over Electoral Law Reversal…..

Mobolaji E. Aluko

January 3, 2002

http://www.gamji.com/aluko15.htm

MID-WEEK ESSAY: Local Council Polls and INEC - A Funny Game Is Going On Here!

Mobolaji E. Aluko

April 11, 2002

http://allafrica.com/stories/200205030187.html

Electoral Bill 2002: the Drama, Intrigues And Suspense

Daily Champion (Lagos) EDITORIAL May 3, 2002

At the end of the voting, those in favour of elections holding in one-day as canvassed by the Shuaibu committee won with 28 votes to 14. After heated debate, the Senate passed the bill into law differing with the House of Representatives on two issues. Whereas the House of Representative adopted in its entirety, the recommendation of the joint committee and insisted that new political parties should be registered before elections, the Senate held that elections should hold without the new parties. The section which provided for the sponsorship of at least 15 per cent of candidates across the country in local government elections by political parties adopted by the Lower House was deleted by the Senate.

http://www.ife.org.mx/wwwcai/B4-5ING.html

ELECTIONS IN NORTH AMERICA IN THE YEAR 2000

Carlos Navarro
Director of Electoral Studies and Political Agreement of the
International Affairs Unit of the Federal Electoral Institute

http://www.elections.state.md.us/citizens/md_parties.html

Recognized Political Parties in Maryland

How Do Political Parties Become Recognized in Maryland?

To become a recognized political party in Maryland a group must

file not later than the first Monday of August before the election, the signatures of 10,000 registered voters in the State. Those signatures must be verified as being that of registered voters by the local boards of elections; and
have an Attorney General approved Constitution and By-laws on file with the SBE.

http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/rep_et_all_pres.htm

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE QUALIFICATION PROCEDURES - CALIFORNIA
MARCH 7, 2000 PRIMARY ELECTION
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT, GREEN, LIBERTARIAN, NATURAL LAW, REFORM, AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES

APPENDIX 1: Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and Political Parties

D- Political Parties

221.- No association, other than a political party, shall canvass for votes for any candidate at any election or contribute to the funds of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at an election.

222.- No association by whatever name called shall function as a political party, unless-

(a) the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission;

(b) the membership of the association is open to every citizen of Nigeria irrespective of his place of origin, circumstance of birth, sex, religion or ethnic grouping;

(c) a copy of its constitution is registered in the principal office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in such form as may be prescribed by the Independent National Electoral Commission;

(d) any alteration in its registered constitution is also registered in the principal office of the Independent National Electoral Commission within thirty days of the making of such alteration;

(e) the name of the association, its symbol or logo does not contain any ethnic or religious connotation or give the appearance that the activities of the association are confined to a part only of the geographical
area of Nigeria; and

(f) the headquarters of the association is situated in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

223.-

(1) The constitution and rules of a political party shall-

(a) provide for the periodical election on a democratic basis of the principal officers and members of the executive committee or other governing body of the political party; and

(b) ensure that the members of the executive committee or other governing body of the political party reflect the federal character of Nigeria.

(2) For the purposes of this section –

(a) the election of the officers or members of the executive committee of a political party shall be deemed to be periodical only if it is made at regular intervals not exceeding four years; and

(b) the members of the executive committee or other governing body of the political party shall be deemed to reflect the federal character of Nigeria only if the members thereof belong to different States not being
less in number than two-thirds of all the States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

224.- The programme as well as the aims and objects of a political party shall conform with the provisions of Chapter II of this Constitution.

225.-

(1) Every political party shall, at such times and in such manner as the Independent National Electoral Commission may require, submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission and publish a statement of its assets and liabilities.

(2) Every political party shall submit to the Independent National Electorate Commission a detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets together with a similar statement of its expenditure in such form as the Commission may require.

(3) No political party shall –

(a) hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or

(b) be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from
outside Nigeria.

(4) Any funds or other assets remitted or sent to a political party from outside Nigeria shall be paid over or transferred to the Commission within twenty-one days of its receipt with such information as the Commission may require.

(5) The Commission shall have power to give directions to political parties regarding the books or records of financial transactions which they shall keep and, to examine all such books and records.

(6) The powers conferred on the Commission under subsection (4) of this section may be exercised by it through any member of its staff or any person who is an auditor by profession, and who is not a member of a political party.

UNQUOTE

APPENDIX II: The Draft INEC Party Registration Guidelines

Guardian

Saturday,4th May, 2002

IN exercise of the powers conferred on it by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the Electoral Act 2001, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (in these guidelines referred to as the Commission) hereby issues the following guidelines for the registration of political parties.

1. A political party for the purposes of these guidelines is defined as an organisation of registered voters that has qualified to participate in an election by meeting all prescribed statutory requirements.

2. An application by a political association seeking registration as a political party (hereinafter referred to as “an Association”) shall be addressed to the Chairman of the Commission and submitted to the Commission’s headquarters not later than 4 p.m on the 180th day preceeding the commencement of the next general elections. (States and federal elections).

3. The application for registration as a political party shall be made on the commission’s Form PA1 in twenty copies and shall be accompanied by the following documents:

(a) The name of the proposed party;

(b) the names, signatures and residential addresses of the chairman and secretary of the association filing the

application;

(d) Twenty copies of the Association’s Constitution and manifesto.

4. No association by whatever name called shall be registered as a political party unless the association submits to the chairman of the Commission in person not later than 4 p.m on the 150th day preceeding the next general elections the following documents:-

(b) The name or acronym of the association must:-

(i) not be the same as the name or acronym of an existing party or any organisation;

(ii) not have any ethnic, religious, professional or other sectional connotation;

(iii) not give the appearance that its activities are confined to a part only of Nigeria;

(iv) not be couched in such a way as to be capable of misleading the voters.

(c) A register showing that its membership is open to every citizen of Nigeria (who is a registered voter) irrespective of place of origin, circumstances of birth, ethnic group, sex or religion;

(d) A copy of the association’s constitution which must be registered in the commission’s Form PAI and shall contain among other things;-

i) the association’s aims and objectives, name, symbol, emblem and motto;

ii) provisions for periodic elections on democratic basis of the principal officers and members of the executive committees or other governing bodies;

iii) a provision that the membership or other governing bodies and administrative personnel at the national level reflect the federal character principle of the constitution of the Federal Republic;

iv) a provision showing that its constitution and manifesto conform with the provisions of the 1999 constitution, the Electoral Act 2001 and these guidelines;

v) a provision relating to disciplinary procedure of the association stating clearly the method of expelling an ordinary member, party official, political office holder including persons elected into public office on the platform of the association;

vi) a provision relating to the method of amendment or alteration of the constitution; and

vii) a provision stating that the national headquarters of the association is situated in the Federal Capital Territory.

(e) Names, signatures, thumbprints, date of joining, residential addresses of registered voters in at least 24 states of the federation and FCT who are members of the association and do not belong to any other political party or any other political association;

(f) an affidavit sworn to by the chairman or secretary of the association to the effect that no member of the association is a member of any other existing party or existing political association;

(g) A bank statement indicating the bank account into which all income of the proposed political association has been paid and shall continue to be paid and from which all expenses are paid and shall be paid;

(h) The address of its headquarters office at Abuja and the addresses of its offices, list of its staff, list of its operational equipment and furniture in at least 24 states of the federation;

(i) Evidence of ownership or rental of such office.

5. The symbol of the association must not portray any of the following:-

i) Coat of arms of the federation;

ii) Coat of arms of any other country;

iii) Any device or emblem which is normally associated with any of the following:-

1. any official acts of government or Armed Forces of the Federation or Nigeria Police Force or other uniformed service; or

2. any tribe or ethnic group; or

3. any religion or cult;

iv) Any portrait of a person living or dead;

v) Any symbol or a part of a symbol which has been registered by another political party in Nigeria or political association or any public organisation.

6. A person shall not be eligible to be registered as a member of political association seeking to be registered as a political party if he/she:-

(a) has not attained the age of 18 years;

(b) has not registered as a voter in the area where he/she intends to vote during the elections;

(d) is a member of the public service of the federation or of a state as defined by the Constitution;

(e) is a member of the Armed Forces of the federation or of the Nigeria Police Force or security and paramilitary organs of the government, and

(f) membership shall be in personal capacity not by reason of being a member of youth club, wing, or vanguard or any association, seeking registration.

7. After the last date for the submission of applications by associations wishing to be registered as political parties, the commission shall consider all the applications received and verify the claims of the association.

8. The commission in verifying the claims shall among other things:-

(a) display the list of the names on the application and membership of the political association as contained in the documents submitted to the commission, in every state and LGA of the federation for seven (7) days for public scrutiny and objections;

(b) check the names on the application to ensure that they are registered voters;

(d) ascertain whether:-

i) the association has offices in 24 states of the federation and in the Federal Capital Territory as required by paragraph 4 of these guidelines;

ii) the Constitution and manifesto of the association comply with the provisions of the constitution, the Electoral Act 2001 and these guidelines;

iii) the composition of members of its executive committees and administrative personnel take into account the federal character principle of the federation and peculiarity and diversity of the people;

iv) the name, acronym, motto and symbol do not offend the provisions of the constitution, the electoral act 2001 and these guidelines;

v) the association is structured and committed to the principles of democracy, secularism and other social objectives as spelt our in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

9. 1) Where the Commission is satisfied that an association has fulfilled all the conditions prescribed for registration by the constitution, the Electoral Act and these guidelines, the commission shall register such an association as a apolitical party by issuing it with a Certificate of Registration duly signed by the chairman of the commission.

2) If the commission is not satisfied that an association has fulfilled all the conditions prescribed for registration, it shall not register such an association as a political party and shall notify it accordingly

3) In notifying the association, the commission must state in writing the grounds for its refusal.

4) Any false declaration shall result in non-registration of the association.

10. 1) A newly registered political party shall in the first place participate only in the local government elections.

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