SPOTTED: Parties can take N50m in donations under revised electoral bill — up from N100k

The revised electoral bill allows political parties to accept up to N50 million in donations.

The country’s political parties can even receive more than N50 million in donations if they can tell the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the source of the funds.

The national assembly’s decision to amend the country’s election laws, which were last updated in 2010, has resulted in a number of revisions.

Electronic transmission of election results and provision for consensus candidates are among the amendments proposed by the national assembly.

In the existing electoral law, political parties can only receive up to N100,000 in donations and may get more if they disclose the source of the funds to INEC.

Section 90(3) of the revised bill seen by TheCable reads: “A political party shall not accept any monetary or other contribution which is more than N50,000,000 unless it can identify the source of the money or other contribution to the commission.”
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Section 93 (3) of the existing law reads: “A political party shall not accept any monetary or other contribution exceeding N100,000.00 unless it can identify the source of the money or other contribution to the commission.”

The existing and proposed laws both provide that political parties sponsoring any candidate’s election must file a report of the monetary contributions made by individuals and entities after election results have been declared.

The new provisions will take effect if President Muhammadu Buhari signs the bill into law.

Buhari had rejected the first electoral bill sent to him because of a clause stipulating compulsory direct primaries for political parties to pick candidates.