Senate, House Of Reps Agree On Order Of 2019 Polls

The Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed on the order of the 2019 general elections.

The concurrence was reached by both chambers of the National Assembly at a Joint Conference.

The House of Representatives had on January 24, 2018 re-ordered the elections.

Based on the reordering, the the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly, and then the presidential election.

The timetable released earlier by the Independent National Electoral Commission has it that the Presidential and National Assembly elections are to hold first, while the governorship and state assembly polls are to follow.

The House amended section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

According to the section, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly election (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections (c) Presidential election.

Similarly, section 87 was amended by adding a new section 87 (11) with a marginal note: “Time for primaries of political parties.

“The primaries of political parties shall follow the following sequence (i) State House of Assembly (ii) National Assembly (iii) Governorship, and (iv), President.

“The dates for the above stated primaries shall not be held earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices.”

All these received concurrence of the two chambers on Tuesday.