Abuja —The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued a warning to political parties against violating its guidelines on the 2023 General Elections.
According to reports by premium times, INEC issued the warning in a statement by its spokesperson on Tuesday.
The commission said it would not condone any attempt by political parties to ignore processes backed by the constitution in the nomination of its candidates as they prepare for the primary elections.
It was reported that since the INEC announced the changes in the dates for the country’s general poll in February and rolled out its schedule of activities, only two out of the 14 activities in its timetable have so far been executed.
The two activities are said to be the publication of notice of elections in states and nomination forms on the commission’s official website.
According to the stipulations of Section 84 of the Electoral Act, all political parties have a period of 61 days, from April 4 till June 3, to present their flag bearers for presidential, governorship, state, and national legislative seats in the coming election.
While INEC has fixed February 25, 2023, for the presidential and national assembly elections, the governorship and state assembly elections will hold on March 11.
The commission noted that candidates for the “1,491 constituencies for which elections will be conducted must emerge from democratic, transparent and valid primaries, in line with the provisions of Sections 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
“Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.
“As required by law, the Commission shall monitor the primaries of each political party that provides the required legal notice in line with Sections 82 (1) and (5) of the Electoral Act.
“Failure of a political party to notify the Commission of any convention or congress convened to nominate candidates for any of the elective offices specified in the Act shall render the convention or congress invalid.
“Primaries must be conducted in the various constituencies as provided in Section 84 of the Electoral Act as it is a violation of the law to conduct primaries outside the constituencies for which parties are nominating candidates. The Commission will not monitor such primaries and their outcome will not be accepted,” the statement added.
