Electoral bill: CSOs ask senate to remove consensus option as mode of primary

A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) has called on the senate to remove the consensus clause in the electoral bill.

The CSOs’ demand comes hours after the senate deleted clause 87 of the electoral act amendment bill and adopted clause 84, which allows for direct, indirect and consensus modes for the nomination of candidates by political parties.

The house of representatives, however, voted for direct and indirect mode primaries for political parties.

Speaking on the development in a statement on Wednesday, the CSOs said the clause on consensus goes against democratic process and would lead to multiple litigations.

“We reject the decision of the Senate to introduce a completely new mode of ‘consensus’ as a procedure for candidates’ nomination,” the statement reads.

“The consensus mode is antithetical to democratic principles and will result in the subversion of popular will. Furthermore, it violates the rights of aspirants to equal participation in party primaries and limits the choice of voters to candidates who did not emerge from democratic primary elections. Judging from experience, consensus has occasioned a litany of litigations in Nigeria’s electoral process.

“We call on the Senate to, in line with the popular will of Nigerians, adopt the position of the House of Representatives which now recognises direct and indirect primaries as procedure for nomination of candidates.

“With this development, a harmonisation committee will now have to be constituted by the leadership of the national assembly to harmonise the divergent positions of both chambers, thereby delaying the speedy conclusion of the process.

“We therefore call for the immediate withdrawal of this new introduction which is alien to the original electoral bill 2021 to speed up the work of the harmonisation committee and conclusion of the amendment process on or before the 21 January 2022 deadline.”

The civil society organisations that signed the statement include, YIAGA Africa, International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD), The Albino Foundation, CLEEN Foundation, Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).

Others are Partners for Electoral Reform (PER), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (NNNGO), and Inclusive Friends Association (IFA).