The Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday proposed alternative dispute resolution to politicians to reduce pre-election cases and court orders served on the commission.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, made the proposal at a workshop on “Mainstreaming Alternative Dispute Resolution in the political terrain” organised by the commission.
Jega, who was represented by Mr. Phillip Umeadi, INEC National Commissioner in charge of legal affairs, said that the idea would institute a culture of resolution of political and election disputes through ADR methods.
He decried the number of court cases instituted by politicians against INEC, adding that the ADR was a direction which stakeholders should be tapping into.
He said, “This will enable every stakeholder in the political and electoral process to see it as an obligation to commit to a new attitude to losing, a new attitude to violence and a new attitude to electoral integrity.
“It is my sincere hope that the individual and collective efforts of all stakeholders will culminate in the reorientation of the political parties, especially the way they view and deal with political and electoral conflicts.”
He said that INEC was collaborating with some non-governmental organisations to entrench trust in the electoral process.
According to him, trust will contribute to the entrenchment of violence-free elections and the citizens’ acceptance of election results that have become a thorny electoral credibility issue over the years.
Jega said that the court cases emanated mostly from the internal administration and activities of political parties, disaffection with certain aspects of the electoral process, difficulty in accepting electoral losses and a pervasive culture of litigation.
The INEC boss said that apart from the distractions from the court cases, “the capacity of the judicial system to adequately deal with these cases expeditiously is another critical issue.”
Original post:
Election petition: INEC proposes alternative dispute resolution