The national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said that the commission has no regrets about the registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The APC, he added, is ripe to contest in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election on the grounds that it was registered within the 90 days’ period stipulated in Section 84 (6) of the Electoral Act. Jega spoke in Abuja yesterday during an interactive session of INEC, civil society groups and media executives on the “Continuous Voter Register” in Abuja. The chief electoral officer also said about 870,000 cases of multiple voter registration was recorded after the post-2011 election and that over 200 have been prosecuted. So far, 93,520 cases (5.6 per cent of registered voters) of multiple registration have been recorded in Anambra State ahead of the state’s election. On why the APC was registered, Jega said “it is clear to us that the parties met all the legal requirements of the merger. We have done all that is required to register them. We believed we are right under the law. I cannot comment on other issues because they are in court. We are sure we acted in accordance with the law.” He also ruled out the possibility of electronic voting ahead of the 2015 election, saying that the commission is handicapped by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which does not allow for e-voting. The commission has recommended to the National Assembly to amend that aspect of the law, he said, adding that the prospects for e-voting is brighter in 2019. Jega said, “We have done electronic tabulation in 2011 but we will improve. Since 2011, no election results took more than 24 hours before we declared results. We can do better. We are trying to deploy technology to help us facilitate election results; we are working on that in 2015. Many countries are moving in the direction of e-voting. But as we speak, the constitution prohibits e-voting. “Unless it is lifted, there is nothing we can do to experiment on it. That is the handicap we have. We have made the recommendations to the National Assembly. Under the circumstance, it is doubtable that we will introduce e voting in 2015; maybe by 2019 we can try it.” The INEC chairman further maintained that, as far as the commission was concerned, the chairman of the PDP in Anambra State remains Chief Ejike Oguebego as against Ken Emeakayi recognised by the ruling party. Jega said, “As far as INEC is concerned, there is no confusion. We monitored congress and we know who emerged. And we have heard claims being made that the INEC has been asked to recognise a person. Our legal unit has no records of being served. Unless there is a clear court order to stop us, we will not allow what happened in the past to repeat itself where after primaries many candidates started campaigning around as party candidates. Anybody who does any campaigning out of that will be committing an offence.” On whether the APC can contest the Anambra poll, Jega said: “You have forced our legal people to consult the Electoral Act and it says there is a 90-day period. He further decried the malaise of underage registration across the country, adding that local communities threaten INEC staff members into registering underage persons, even though he blamed INEC officials for not being vigilant enough to spot out underage persons.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 11:22:35 +0000
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