By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
It is a truism that for an election to be regarded free, fair, inclusive and credible, political parties must be carried along to play their parts.
Thus, recognising the importance of political parties to the 2023 election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, organised a training for their leaders to keep them abreast of the new Electoral Act.
In his keynote address to the training tagged “the Electoral Act 2023: Imperatives for Political Parties and the 2023 General Election” and organised by The Electoral Institute, TEI, the National Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said, the training is meant to enlighten and sensitize political parties on the new provisions in the Act and the derivative subsidiary laws of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The Chairman, represented by the Chairman, Board of the electoral Institute, Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, stressed that as the 2023 General election draws closer, it became imperative for all stakeholders especially the Political parties to note the major features introduced by the new Electoral Act 2022 and the possible implications of the changes on the upcoming elections which according to him, have already been witnessed in the recent party primaries.
He reassured political parties that INEC has no preferred party or candidate and as such, shall ensure that all valid votes count and winners decided solely by the voters.
The INEC boss, however, warned that the Commission will scrupulously apply the laws without fear or favour to ensure free, fair, credible, inclusive and transparent election come February, 2023.
A guest lecturer, Professor Yomi Akinseye-George while speaking on the theme, applauded the successful conduct of the primaries towards the 2023 General Elections despite all the challenges facing the country.
He said political parties constitute the pillar on which democracy is founded hence it is directly related to the level of enlightenment and capability of the political parties to comply with the rule of law in their operations.
According to him, INEC cannot publish the list and personal particulars of whoever purportedly emerges from any so called party primaries if it receives a report that a party did not conduct primaries.
The Director General, The Electoral Institute, Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris, in a welcome address, said, the topic “The Electoral Act 2022: Imperatives for Political Parties and the 2023 General Elections” was carefully chosen considering the necessity and requirements for conducting the 2023 General Elections under a new law and the implications of the new electoral law for the Commission, and the 18 Political Parties that will be fielding candidates for the various elective offices in the General Election.
He lamented that the unfortunate preponderance of many legal cases arising from pre-elections till after the conduct of the elections, have severally brought a lot of challenges to the electoral process and the country’s political development.
Dr. Idris, hopes that with the lecture and training for party executives, due influence can be brought to bear and reduce the swift race to the courts that has characterised the political space in the last 10 years.
