An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised the National Assembly to jettison a bill before it, seeking the conduct of all elections in one day.
The official, who spoke with NAN on condition of anonymity on Thursday in Abuja, said that the bill, if passed, might truncate the county’s electoral system.
There has been a growing momentum in certain quarters in the country for a major electoral reform, including the conduct of all five major elections – presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives, governorship and House of Assembly – on a single day.
The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen, led by a former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, had made the call during its recent national summit on the Future of Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy.
The House of Representatives had equally proposed the reform in the Electoral Act 2025, which had passed second reading.
If the proposal is upheld, the reviewed Electoral Act will empower INEC to simultaneously conduct all elections in one day.
Proponents of the reform had argued that a single-day vote would be less vulnerable to possible manipulation and vote-buying and streamline electoral process as well as save time and cost, among other advantages.
However, the INEC official said that the question was not really about the capacity of INEC to conduct all elections in one day, but the practicability of the proposal.
“It’s about the practicality of the concept, the purpose of this latest move and what the whole thing intends to achieve.
“What is wrong with the current method? Will conducting all elections same day guarantee credibility? Will it produce a different outcome from what we are having now?
“What is the practicality of it? Did the lawmakers seek INEC’s opinion before embarking on this move?” the official queried.
According to the official, since the constitution gives INEC the exclusive power to determine the date of an election, the lawmakers should not try to erode the power.
The official argued that there were reasons INEC currently holds general elections in two parts, with the presidential and national assembly coming first and the governorship and house of assembly following.
“Even as things stand now, the commission is still finding it challenging to deal with the logistics aspect.
“Remember, for the presidential and national assembly elections, voting takes place simultaneously between 8.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. in over 176,000 polling units across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Just imagine, for a moment, what all that entails.
“After that, the process of sorting and counting the ballot papers begins, followed by collation at the ward, local government and state levels.
“After that, returning officers will proceed from each of the states to the National Collation Centre in Abuja to physically present their individual results to the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Federation, that is, the INEC Chairman.
“He is the only individual empowered by the constitution to announce the result of a presidential election,” the official said, adding that the process takes lots of time.
The INEC official said that adding the burden of other elections to the first part (presidential and national assembly) might truncate the process. To the official, the idea should simply be dropped.