INEC Can Introduce Electronic Voting Under Current Electoral Act- Falana SAN

Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the amended
Electoral Act, a human rights activist and Senior Advocate of
Nigeria (SAN) Chief Femi Falana has said that under the present
Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
can introduce electronic voting if it so wishes to strengthen the
electoral regime.

Falana disclosed while speaking at-a-one day Post 2019 General
Election Conference and Presentation of Election Observation Report
by Equity International Initiative (EII), held in Jos, the Plateau
State Capital.

He said, “Section 52 of the Electoral Act of 2010 had prohibited
the use of electronic voting, but by the amendment carried out on
the 27th March, 2015, that provision was removed and INEC was then
given the power.

“That voting at an election shall be in accordance with the
procedure determined by INEC.

“For us that omnibus power has empowered INEC to introduce
electronic voting.

Falana who was the chairman of the occasion, explained further
that, “As a matter of fact when the Supreme Court held that the use
of Card Reader was not allowed by law, I had to come out with this
provision, which was not cited in the proceedings before the
court.

“And since then, we have been using Card Reader, and I’m of the
opinion that if INEC want to resort to electronic voting, it is
possible under the current electoral regime”, he stressed.

Recalls that the Electoral Act was amended by the 8th National
Assembly, but the President refused to sign the bill into law.

Delivering his keynote address with the theme: “Strengthening
Election System in Nigeria Building Citizens Trust, a Panacea to
Good Governance”, a Legal Scholar and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria
(SAN), Prof. Dakas CJ Dakas, said, “The mode of appointment of the
election managers, there has been a number of proposals that have
been put on the table about what needs to be done.

Dakas said, “As it is now, the mode of appointment of the
Chairman of INEC, NECs and RECs is essentially a political process;
and we need to find mechanisms through which we can insulate that
process and bolster the framework through which these election
managers emerge; so that it inspires a lot more confidence in the
electoral system.

On the integrity of the election managers; the Legal Scholar
said, “If we have election managers that have no character if we
have election managers that can stand up to anything, they will
fall for everything.

“If you don’t have election managers whose credibility you can
vouch for, then it becomes very easy for the political class to
manipulate and bribe their way into the system; so the integrity of
the election managers is extremely important.

“We need to insulate the election managers from political
manipulation and strangulation, even in financial terms.

“Sometimes INEC complains not only about the money that is
approved, also the delay and at the end of the day the electoral
umpire will have to work against time in order to deliver a
credible election.

On internal democracy in political parties, the Senior Advocate
of Nigeria said, “The subject of internal democracy is an extremely
important one, in an era which godfathers determine who gets the
party tickets, internal democracy becomes extremely important.

“And I’m glad that its beginning to catch up with the political
class; take for example in Zamfara and Rivers States, political
parties whose candidates were adjudged to have won elections, but
the Court said no, it incidentally handed victory to all the people
that came second.

“And I hope that the political class would learn from that
experience and strife to engender internal democracy in their
parties”, he stressed.

The one day post-2019 general election conference and
presentation of observation drew over 200 participants from the
civil society, security agencies, media, NBA, INEC, religious and
traditional institutions.