House Of Reps Passes Electoral Bill Today

Barring any last-minute change in plan, the House of Representatives is billed to pass amendments to the Electoral Act, 2010 today.

The Chairman of the Electoral Matters Committee of the House, Aisha Dukku, while laying its report on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2010 at the plenary on Wednesday, prayed the House to receive the report on: ‘A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010, and enact the Electoral Act, 2021, to Regulate the Conduct of Federal, State and Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory Elections; and for Related Matters.’

The bill was referred to the committee on November 24, 2020.

In the recommendation of the report, the committee recommended that electronic voting and transmission of results should be left at the discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

On election expenses, the report in Section 87 recommends that, “(1) Election expenses shall not exceed the sum stipulated in subsections (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) and (7).

“(2) The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall not exceed N5,000,000,000.00.

“(3) The maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of the governorship election shall not exceed N1,000,000,000.00.

“(4) The maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of senatorial and House of Representatives seats shall not exceed N100,000,000.00 and N70,000,000.00, respectively.

“(5) In the case of a state Assembly election, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N30,000,000.00.

“(6) In the case of a chairmanship election to an area council, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N30,000,000.00.

“(7) In the case of councillorship election to an area council, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N5,000,000.00.

“No individual or other entity shall donate to a candidate more than N50,000,000.00.”