Senate Gives More Power To INEC

The Nigerian Senate on Thursday, gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the freedom to determine the procedure for voting, after it passed some amendments to the Electoral Act. 

 Senate Plenary session

Senate plenary session

According to The Nation, the lawmakers, however, rejected a proposal which seeks to make presidential debates compulsory before any election as contained in the report of the Senate Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), captioned: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act, 2010 to provide for Tenure of Office of Secretary, power to issue duplicate voters card, determine voting procedure and for other related matters, 2014.”

Related: Senate Amends Constitution: Now INEC Can Deregister Parties That Fail To Win Seats

The proposal which requested that the responsibility of proving irregularities in any poll should be placed on the electoral body was also rejected by the senate, saying, the burden of proof on electoral irregularities during election should rather be placed on the petitioner.  

Below is an excerpt from the Victor Ndoma-Egba-led committee report:Read more

Sources: Naij.com news, The Nation

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