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Tag: Presidential Poll

  • 18 out of 91 political parties not fielding candidates in Saturday’s presidential poll [Full List]

    18 out of 91 political parties not fielding candidates in Saturday’s presidential poll [Full List]

    Eighteen (18) out of the 91 registered political parties will not be fielding presidential candidates in Saturday’s elections.

    These parties are:

    Congress of Patriots (COP)

    Alternative Party of Nigeria (APN)

    Legacy Party of Nigeria (LPN)

    Modern Democratic Party (MDP)

    Movement for The Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD)

    New Generation Party (NGP)

    New Progressives Movement (NPM)

    Alliance for Democracy (AD)

    Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)

    Peoples Progressives Party (PPP)

    Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN)

    United Peoples Congress (UPC)

    United Progressives Party UPP)

    Young Democratic Party (YDP)

    Youth Party (YP)

    Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)

    Democratic Alternative (DA)

    There are 91 registered political parties, out of which 73 parties are fielding presidential candidates, leaving 18 political parties not fielding presidential candidates.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on January 17 released its final list of presidential candidates.

    Among the 73 candidates, two parties; the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) have issues although both parties are listed on INEC’s final list.

    ACPN has its name and the name of its candidate on INEC’s list but the party’s presidential candidate, Oby Ezekwesili, withdrew from the race even though the deadline for withdrawal and substitution had elapsed.

    SDP, on the other hand, has only its party name on INEC’s list because the party failed to send the name of its candidate, due to court cases.

  • Presidential poll: Deliver three million votes for Buhari, Tinubu tells Lagos APC

    The National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, urged party members to work hard to deliver no fewer than three million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari on February 16.

    Tinubu gave the challenge while addressing party members and supporters at a stakeholders meeting in Ikeja.

    The party leader, who spoke mainly in Yoruba, said APC in the state could not afford not to deliver on the promise of overwhelming votes for the president.

    He said the president trusted in him and party members to win resoundingly in the state, urging party men to do their best to meet and exceed expectations.

    Tinubu reiterated his commitment to Buhari’s re-election, saying he would give his all, including spending his personal resources to ensure his victory.

    “I want you our party members to go all out and vote massively for President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “You must deliver at least three million votes or more to the president to show that the whole state is firmly for him.

    “I have been made the co-Chairman of the APC presidential campaign committee because of the trust in me and party members to always deliver votes.

    “We should justify that trust and give our best to Buhari and Osinbajo on Saturday,” he said.

    Tinubu urged party members to mobilise other residents in their neighbourhoods to vote for the president.

    He challenged all members to ensure that APC wins in all the polling units across all the wards on Saturday.

    The party leader said election coordinators had been appointed to mobilise votes for APC across the state, and urged them to deliver on the assignment.

    Tinubu said party executive members were automatic coordinators in their respective areas, urging them to get results.

    He promised that all members would be compensated based on the results they delivered in their respective areas.

    Tinubu urged members to shun electoral malpractice as the party was not known for such.

    The party leader also urged party members to eschew all acts of violence, but conduct themselves peacefully before, during and after the election.

    He expressed confidence that the president would not only emerge victorious in the election, but would win resoundingly.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Adebule; a former Minister of State, Sen.Musiliu Obanikoro; a former Commissioner of Transportation in the state, Mr Kayode Opeifa; and South West Women Leader of the party, Mrs Kemi Nelson, were some of the prominent party personalities at the meeting.

    Prominent members of the party’s Governor’s Advisory Council, including Dr Abayomi Finnih and Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi were also among hundreds of party men at the meeting.

  • Ex-Tanzanian president leads Commonwealth observers for Nigeria’s presidential poll

    Ex-Tanzanian president leads Commonwealth observers for Nigeria’s presidential poll

    The Commonwealth has deployed a 20-member Observer Group, led by former President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, for the February 16 Nigerian presidential election.

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, constituted the observer group following an invitation from Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), according to Commonwealth Secretariat.

    Josephine Latu-Sanft, Commonwealth Secretariat’s Senior Communications Officer, said members of the group included politicians, diplomats and experts in law, human rights, gender and election administration from across the Commonwealth.

    She quoted Ms Scotland as saying that an advance group of observers was deployed to Nigeria on January 28, while other members of the team were expected to arrive in Abuja on February 8.

    Ms Scotland said: “The Commonwealth has a long history of observing elections in member countries, in solidarity with electors as they choose their leaders, and in support of efforts to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in accordance with the values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter.

    “The Commonwealth has observed the previous five elections in Nigeria, and I am pleased to be deploying so distinguished a group to again support the nation in its continuing journey of democratic development”.

    The Commonwealth Observer Group’s mandate was to observe and consider factors affecting the credibility of the electoral process as a whole.

    It would assess whether the elections have been conducted in accordance with the standards for democratic elections to which Nigeria has committed itself, with reference to national legislation and relevant regional, Commonwealth and international commitments.

    Where appropriate, the Group could also make recommendations for the future strengthening of the electoral framework.

    The Commonwealth Observer Group would consider the pre-election environment and election preparations.

    Members would be deployed to various regions of the country where they will observe the voting, vote-counting and results procedures.

    The Group would submit its final report for consideration by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, and she will in turn share it with the Government of Nigeria, INEC and political parties.

    The Secretary-General would also convey the report to all Commonwealth governments after which the report would then be made public.

    The Group would be supported by Commonwealth Secretariat staff led by Katalaina Sapolu, Senior Director of the Governance and Peace Directorate.

    Other members of the Commonwealth Observer Group are Lesley Clark of Australia; Gary Dunn, former Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General from Australia; and Omar Jallow from The Gambia.

    Members of the group also comprised Emmanuel Akwetey, Prosper Bani and Emmanuel Bombande, all from Ghana.

    Shahabuddin Quraishi from India, Orrette Fisher from Jamaica and Jedidah Waruhiu from Kenya are also members of the group.

    Also in the group are Notemba Tjipueja from Namibia, Eric Kwa from Papua New Guinea, Ernest Sagaga from Rwanda and Marcella Samba-Sesay from Sierra Leone.

    Others are Crystal Orderson from South Africa, Joy Napier from St Kitts & Nevis, Elizabeth Donnelly from United Kingdom, Linda Duffield, also from United Kingdom, and Musa Mwenye from Zambia.

  • Algeria fixes date for presidential poll

    Algeria fixes date for presidential poll

    Algeria on Friday said its presidential elections will hold on April 18, ending speculation that the vote could be postponed.

    “Bouteflika has issued a decree tasking an electoral commission with preparing for the April 18 polls,’’ the presidency said in a statement.

    It is not clear yet, if incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who suffered a stroke in 2013, will run for a fifth term.

    The 81-year-old wheelchair-bound president has been in power since 1999.

    According to reports, he is rarely seen in public.

    In recent years, energy-rich Algeria’s finances have been hurt by the global drop in oil prices, prompting cuts in state subsidies.

  • DR Congo election body declares opposition candidate, Tshisekedi winner of presidential poll

    DR Congo election body declares opposition candidate, Tshisekedi winner of presidential poll

    Felix Tshisekedi has vowed to be the president “of all Congolese” after the Democratic Republic of Congo‘s (DRC) electoral commission declared him the winner of the country’s long-delayed elections.

    The result, which was announced in the early hours of Thursday, was rejected by rival Martin Fayulu, who was backed by opposition heavyweights and had led in polling prior to the December 30 vote.

    Tshisekedi had won with 38.57 percent of more than 18 million ballots cast, Corneille Nangaa, head of the election commission said at about 3am (02:00 GMT) in a news conference that appeared timed to avoid any immediate reaction on the streets.

    Tshisekedi received more than seven million votes compared with about 6.4 million for Fayulu, who had warned against manipulation.

    Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the hand-picked candidate of long-time President Joseph Kabila was third with about 4.4 million votes.

    Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, one of Kabila’s top advisors, accepted the loss of the ruling party’s preferred candidate.

    “Of course we are not happy as our candidate lost, but the Congolese people have chosen and democracy has triumphed,” Kikaya told Reuters news agency shortly after Tshisekedi was declared the winner.

    The announcement came hours after the riot police were deployed at the commission’s headquarters in Kinshasa amid fears of violence due to a disputed result.

    Election observers reported a number of irregularities during the vote and the opposition alleged it was marred by fraud.

    The result could lead to the vast country’s first democratic transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, with Kabila due to leave office this month after 18 years in power – and two years after the official end of his mandate.

    The Catholic Church said on Thursday the poll results announced by the electoral commission did not match its vote tally.

    Losing candidates can contest the results before the country’s constitutional court in the coming days. The swearing-in of the new president is planned for January 18.

    Some observers have suggested that Kabila’s government sought to make a deal as hopes faded for a win for Shadary.

    The result is expected to cause further suspicion that Tshisekedi struck a power-sharing pact with Kabila. Tshisekedi’s camp has acknowledged contacts since the vote with Kabila’s representatives but denies there has been any kind of deal.

    Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters in Kinshasa, Tshisekedi paid his respects to Kabila, whom he described as “an important political partner”.

    “He said he is willing to be a president for all the people of Congo and thanked Fayulu and Shadary, saying he is willing to work with them to build a better Congo,” Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from Kinshasa, said.

    But Fayulu dismissed the results announced by the electoral commission as “a true electoral coup”.

    “The results have nothing to do with the truth of the ballot box,” he said in an interview with Radio France Internationale, calling on observers to publish the real results.

    Tshisekedi, 55, is the son of the late Etienne Tshisekedi, the face of the DRC’s opposition for decades.

    He has promised a return to the rule of law, to fight the “gangrene” of corruption and to bring peace to the conflict-wracked east of the resource-rich country.

    More than one million people were kept from voting on election day because of an Ebolaoutbreak and militia violence in opposition strongholds, mainly in DRC’s east.

    Observers said many polling stations opened late and closed early and in some places voting machines malfunctioned.

     

  • APC candidate loses in Sierra Leone’s presidential poll

    APC candidate loses in Sierra Leone’s presidential poll

    The candidate of the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) has been declared the winner of the March 31 Sierra Leone Presidential run-off election.

    According to the result announced by the Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday in Freetown, Julius Madaa Bio received 1,319,406 votes representing 51.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast, 2,546,577, to defeat the candidate of the ruling party.

    According to the result, Kamara Wilson of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) polled 1,227,171 votes, representing 48.19 per cent of the valid votes cast.

    The Chairman of NEC, Mohamed Conteh, who announced the result, said that the national turnout in the election was 2,578,271 representing 81.11 registered voters, while 31,694 invalid votes were recorded.

    “Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred on me as National Returning Officer by sections 52(2) and 94(4) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No 4 of 20l2), I hereby certify that Bio Julius Manda having polled 1,319,406 of the valid votes cast in the March 31 Presidential election run-off has been duly elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

    “Any citizen of Sierra Leone who has lawfully voted in this election may challenge the validity of the said election of the President by petition to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, within seven days after the declaration of Presidential result pursuant to section 55(1) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No. 4 of 2012),” Mr. Conteh said.

    Bio, a retired brigadier, is to take office as Sierra Leone’s 5th President having won the run-off election with more than 92,000 vote margin against his APC counterpart.

    Bio replaced President Ernest Bai Koroma of APC, who has completed his two terms of five years each.

    Under Sierra Leone’s constitution, a winning candidate is sworn in once the Chief Electoral Officer certifies the results of the election, followed by official inauguration later.

    Fourteen political parties participated in the first ballot which was conducted on March 7, where no candidate secured the mandatory 55 per cent of the total valid votes.

    The opposition candidate, Mr. Bio, led the final result of the first ballot with 1,097, 482 votes, making 43.3 per cent of the 2, 537,122 valid votes cast in the polls.

    Samura Kamara of APC at the first ballot came a close second with 1,082, 748 votes, representing 42.7 per cent of the total votes cast.

    The run-off election became necessary since none of the candidates was able to get 51 per cent of the total votes cast, as provided by the country’s constitution.

  • Opposition candidate wins Sierra Leone’s presidential poll

    Opposition candidate wins Sierra Leone’s presidential poll

    The opposition party’s candidate, Rtd Brig Julius Madaa Bio of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) has been declared the winner of the March 31 Sierra Leone Presidential run-off election.

    According to the result announced by the Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday in Freetown, Bio received 1,319,406 votes representing 51.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast, 2,546,577, to defeat the candidate of the ruling party.

    According to the result Kamara Wilson of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) polled 1,227,171 votes, representing 48.19 per cent of the valid votes cast.

    The Chairman of NEC, Mohamed Conteh,who announced the result, said that the national turn out in the election was 2,578,271 representing 81.11 registered voters, while 31,694 invalid votes were recorded.

    “Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred on me as National Returning Officer by sections 52(2) and 94(4) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No 4 of 20l2), I hereby certify that Bio Julius Manda having polled 1,319,406 of the valid votes cast in the March 31 Presidential election run-off has been duly elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

    “Any citizen of Sierra Leone who has lawfully voted in this election may challenge the validity of the said election of the President by petition to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, within seven days after the declaration of Presidential result pursuant to section 55(1) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No. 4 of 2012),” Conteh said.

    Bio is to take office as Sierra Leone’s 5th President having won the run-off election with more than 92,000 vote margin against his APC counterpart.

    Bio replaced President Ernest Bai Koroma of APC, who has completed his two terms of five years each.

    Under Sierra Leone’s constitution, a winning candidate is sworn in once the Chief Electoral Officer certifies the results of the election, followed by official inauguration later.

    Fourteen political parties participated in the first ballot which was conducted on March 7, where no candidate secured the mandatory 55 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

    The opposition candidate, Bio led the final result of the first ballot with 1,097, 482 votes, making 43.3 per cent of the 2, 537,122 valid votes cast in the polls.

    Samura Kamara of APC at the first ballot came a close second with 1,082, 748 votes, representing 42.7 per cent of the total votes cast.

    The run-off election became necessary since none of the candidates was able to get 51 per cent of the total votes cast as provided by the country’s constitution.