The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended political party primaries by six days to allow them to finish their work.
INEC met with the leadership of political parties today, and the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Conduct of the 2023 General Election released on Saturday 26th February 2022, according to Festus Okoye, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in a statement released on Friday.
“Political parties had previously requested a 37- to 60-day extension of the deadline for primaries and candidate nominations. This request could not be granted, according to the Commission, because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. The Commission’s stance has remained unchanged.
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“However, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between the 4th and 9th June 2022 to complete outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.”
“During this time, the Commission has planned no specific activity.” From the 10th to the 17th of June 2022, the idea is to simply give parties time to compile a list of their nominated candidates and personal information before uploading it to the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal,” he explained.
According to Okoye, the commission decided to grant the political parties’ request because the six-day period did not conflict with the commission’s next scheduled activity, which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates, or any of the subsequent timelines, which are all strictly adhered to.
“However, this request is granted only in the case of pending primaries, and not in the case of primaries that have already been concluded by political parties.” He went on to say that the Commission would not be monitoring primaries that had already taken place.
After the primaries, the next critical activity for political parties, according to Okoye, is the online submission of the list of candidates the party intends to sponsor, which must be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidates indicating that they met all the constitutional requirements for election into the various offices via the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.
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He also stated that, based on previous experience, the Commission had decided to train political party officials on how to use the portal efficiently and effectively.
‘A total of 72 officials will be trained by the Commission, four from each of the 18 political parties.’ Unfortunately, some political parties have yet to submit their training candidates. Such parties are hereby reminded to do so immediately by the Commission. “The Commission would like to stress that only nominations submitted electronically will be considered,” he said.
