The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is contemplating conducting rerun and bye-elections in the first week of February 2024.
The Chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at an extraordinary consultative meeting with political parties.
He said the purpose of the meeting was to brief party leaders of the commission’s preparation for the forthcoming elections to be held early in the new year, adding that the elections are in two categories.
According to him, first, as the Election Petition Appeal Tribunals set up in the aftermath of the 2023 general election gradually wind up their proceedings, the commission is required to conduct re-run elections in some constituencies by court order.
Secondly, the chairman noted that the commission was also required to conduct bye-elections to fill vacancies arising from the death or resignation of members of the National and state Houses of Assembly.
He explained that the commission intended to combine and conduct the two categories of elections on the same day, adding that the details of which would be discussed at the meeting.
According to Mahmood, “As you are aware, re-run elections only involve the parties and candidates that participated in the general election unless a party wishes to replace a deceased candidate. However, bye-elections are fresh elections. Consequently, political parties must conduct fresh primaries within the limited period of time provided by law.
“So far, the Election Petition Appeal Tribunals have ordered the commission to conduct re-run elections in 34 constituencies made up of one Senatorial District, 11 Federal Constituencies and 22 state Assembly constituencies.
“However, the 34 constituencies constitute 2.8 per cent of the 1,191 petitions filed by litigants. Significantly, out of the 34 re-run elections, it is only in three cases that the commission was ordered to conduct elections in the entire constituencies. In the other 31 constituencies, elections are to be held in a few polling units.”
The chairman said at the end of all the litigations, including the governorship elections pending on appeal at the Supreme Court, the commission would present a comprehensive analysis of the petitions, including cases where the commission was ordered to issue certificates of return to other candidates and the reasons for the decisions by the courts as part of the lessons learned from the 2023 general election for the consequential reforms to improve the conduct of future elections.”
