HIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUSTICE UWAIS ELECTORAL REFORM COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONSHIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUSTICE UWAIS ELECTORAL REFORM COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

Some Members of this group have made request for key recommendations of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee Recommendations to be made available to them on the group page. In response to these requests, I wish to implore all those who want a soft copy of the full report to send the secretariat an email at any of these email address:tucinctfct@yahoo.co.uk or tucinfct@hotmail.com.

The key recommendations are as follows:

1. INDEPENDENT CANDIDACY
Section 65(2) (b) and 106 of the 1999 Constitution should be amended to make provision for an individual to run as an independent candidate

2. PROCEDURE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF INEC BOARD:
For the above the National Judicial Council should:
A .Advertise the positions, spelling out requisite qualifications
B. Receive applications/nominations from the general public
C. Shortlist three persons for each position
D. Send the nominations to the National Council of State to select one for each position and forward to the Senate for confirmation.

3. REMOVAL FROM OFFICE OF INEC CHAIRMAN AND BOARD MEMBERS;
The Chairman and members of the INEC Board may only be removed by the Senate on the recommendations of the National Judicial Council, (NJC) by two –third of the Senate which shall include at least 10 members of the minority parties in the Senate.

4. FUNDING
The Election Expenditure and the Recurrent Expenditure of the INEC offices (in addition to Salaries and allowances of the Chairman and Board members) shall be charged on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

5. DATES OF ELECTIONS:
Section 132(2) and 178(2) of the 1999 of the 1999 Constitution should be amended to appoint a single date for Presidential and Gubernatorial elections which should be held at least six months before the expiration of the term of the current holders of the offices.
Similarly section 64(1) and 105(1) of the 1999 Constitution should also be amended to appoint a single date for national and state assembly elections which should hold two years after the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections

6. ELECTION TRIBUNALS:
A. The number of Tribunals should be increased by reducing the number of Judges that sit on the Tribunal from 5 to 3,so that more Tribunal can be established per State
B. In order to minimise the filling of frivolous petitions, the electoral Act 2006 should be amended to provide that if a Petitioner loses a case, he should be ordered by the Court or Tribunal to bear the full expenses of the Respondent.

7. DETERMINATION OF ELECTION PETITION:
The 1999 Constitution should be amended to specify the period for considering petitions as follows: “THE DETERMINATION OF CASES BY TRIBUNALS SHOULD TAKE FOUR MONTHS AND APPEALS SHOULD TAKE A FURTHER TWO MONTHAS, A TOTAL OF SIX MONTHS”