By Tony Akowe, Abuja

Political parties and their presidential candidates would have N5 billion as the ceiling for their campaign expenses if a proposed electoral law pending before the National Assembly sailed through.

Also, aspirants will have to spend less. For instance, the bill recommends a maximum N10 million as fee for the presidential nomination form.

Apart from campaign expenditure and nomination fees, the proposed law highlights key electoral issues like electronic voting, mode of conducting primaries by the parties, use of incident forms, election petitions, death and replacement of candidates as well as registration of new political parties.

The draft of the bill to repeal the Electoral Act No.6, 2020 (as amended and to enact the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2020 was sighted at the weekend by The Nation in Abuja.

Primarily, the draft that originated from INEC seeks to regulate the conduct of federal, states and local council elections.

According to the document, the high cost of nomination fees limits the political space only to politicians with deep financial pockets.

In the bill, governorship candidates are not to spend more N1 billion on campaigns; senatorial aspirants (N100 million); House of Representatives candidates (N70 million); House of Assembly candidates (N30 million); local government chairmanship candidates (N30 million) and councillorship candidates (N5 million).

Going by the provisions of the bill, governorship nomination forms will not sell for more than N5 million; senatorial (N2 million); House of Representatives, N1 million; House of Assembly (N500, 000); local government chairmanship (N250, 000) and councillorship (N150, 000).

When passed into law and signed, parties that contravene the law will be sanctioned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The proposed law however said: “In determining the total expenditure incurred in relation to the candidate of any person at any election, no account shall be taken of any deposit made by the candidate on his nomination in compliance with the law; any expenditure incurred before the notification of the date fixed for the election with respect to services rendered or materials supplied before such notification; or political party expenses in respect of the candidate for a particular election.”

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Section 52 (2) of the proposed law allows INEC to adopt electronic voting or any other method of voting in any election it conducts as it may seem fit.

A part of the draft focusing on the death of a candidate in an election reads: “If after that commencement of the polls and before the announcement not the final result and declaration of a winner, a candidate dies, the commission shall, being satisfied with the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days.

“The political party whose candidate dies may if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit the name of a new candidate to the commission to replace the dead candidate; and subject to paragraph a and b of this subsection, the commission (INEC) shall continue with the election, announce the final results and declare a winner.”

When passed  and assented, the new law will no longer permit the use of incident form in places where   smart card readers fail to work.

“Where a smart card reader deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh card reader is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be cancelled and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours,” the proposed law recommended.

It also advocates that  political parties be stopped from imposing conditions which are outside the provision of the 1999 Constitution on their aspirants with a view to disqualify anybody from contesting any elective office.

On mode of conducting primaries, the draft law stated: “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this act shall hold direct or indirect primaries or aspirants to elective positions which shall be monitored by the commission (INEC) and the results of the primaries may be endorsed or certified by the commission.

“A political party shall not impose nomination qualification or disqualification criteria, measures or conditions on any aspirant or candidate for any election in its constitution, guideline or rules for nomination of candidate for elections, except as prescribed under Sections 65, 66, 106, 107,131, 137, 177 and 187 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

“Any requirement, criteria, measures or conditions for the nomination of candidates for elections outside the provisions of subsection 2 or 3 of this section shall be invalid.”

Also, in an apparent bid to reduce litigation expenses, the proposed law said it is no longer necessary for parties challenging the outcomes of elections to call oral evidence during the hearing of their petition.

It said: “It is necessary for a party who alleges non-compliance with the provisions of this Act and the published manuals, guidelines, regulations or procedures issued by the commission for the conduct of elections to call oral evidence of originals or certified true copies of Electoral documents or materials used by the commission(INEC) to conduct the election in the polling unit(s) where the non-compliance is alleged are listed in a petition and tendered at the trial of the petition in proof of the non-compliance complained of.

“Where the commission (INEC) refuses and or neglects to issue a certificate of return, a certified true copy of the order of a court of competent jurisdiction shall, ipso facto, be sufficient for the purpose of swearing in a candidate declared as the winner by the court.”

For registration of new political parties, the proposed law said “any political association that complies with the provisions of the constitution and this act for the purpose of registration shall be registered as a political party, provided however that such application for registration as a political party shall be duly submitted to the commission not later than 12 months before the general election.

“A political association that meets the conditions stipulated in the constitution and this act shall be registered by the commission as a political party within 60 days from the date of the receipt of such application, and if after 60 days such association is not registered by the commission, unless the commission informed the association to the contrary, it shall be deemed to have been registered.”