The National Assembly has approved amendments to the law establishing and guiding the activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in accordance with the request of the new leadership of the commission.

The Harmonised INEC Act, which was adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly, on Thursday, shows that the lawmakers’ voted in favour of the special amendments requested by the new INEC team. Atahiru Jega, the chairman of INEC, had, in his maiden press conference on 22 July, requested for specific amendment of some sections of the existing INEC act to enhance the commission’s chances at conducting a credible free and fair elections in 2011. Mr. Jega requested the special amendments to sections 10 (5), 21 and 11 (4) of the 2006 INEC Act, which was at that point being amended by the National Assembly, to reflect the changes caused by the amended 1999 constitution.

The amendments

Mr. Jega said the new leadership requested the amendment of section 10 (5) of the electoral act to reduce the time for end of registration, updating and revision of the voters’ register from 120 days before election to 60 days. “This gives us an additional eight weeks, bringing the total period available to compile a new register to 16 weeks,” he said. He also requested for the amendment of section 21 of the act to reduce the time for completion of supplementary list of voters, integration into the existing register and final certification from 60 days before the election to 30 days.

Although the amendments sought by the new INEC team was the initial position of the senate on the amendment of the INEC Act, the House of Reps had voted to retain the old timelines. The process of lawmaking requires both chambers to agree on every section of the Act before it will be passed into law. During the harmonisation, the representatives however voted in favour of the stance of the senate and as requested by the new INEC team. The harmonised copy of the bill will be forwarded to the president for his assent and subsequent passage into law. The new INEC act reflects a radical deviation from the past stipulating stiffer regulation for campaigns and party funding and harsh penalties for offenders.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5600184-147/legislators_adjust_laws_to_favour_inec.csp

Good news.now lets see where it goes from here,

Good. The ball is now in Jega's court. I wish the prof the best of luck.

I dont see any option A4 in the amendment.What's there to celebrate?

@aieromon, Pls can enlighten me more on dat "option A4". Hav heard of it several times. Tanx

@aieromon, Pls can enlighten me more on dat "option A4". Hav heard of it several times. Tanx

I think Option A4 was used in June 12 1993.

@Esedendo
Option A4 is a crude,yet reliable method of vote counting for the type of mess we find ourselves in during election periods.All the voter needs to do is stand in front of the picture bearing his preferred candidate after which everyone will be counted for all to see.There and then,the result will be available on the spot which will eliminate the problem of snatched ballot boxes and fake voters register.
1993 elections did not permit rigging and these rogues know it so the question is - Why are they afraid of passing it into law if they want free and fair elections?
Jega is a man and not a robot.He will announce results given to him but how does he verify the authenticity of such data?

The amendments and subamendments dont mean much to me.
Why?
hardly is any law implemented when it comes to elections in nigeria.

Hope this new mallam jega dude is able to deliver transparents election that will produce credible leaders to change nigeria

mama-gee:

All these laws and amendments aren't enforced anyway.

I wonder why they are created in the first place.

If it is true then we are not the right track - Rome was not built in a day. Someday it will be enforced

Option A4 is more of open ballot I guess.

^^^still option A4 remains the best

^^^still option A4 remains the best

I just hope that we have free and fair elections in 2011 with the coming of Jega.

Thats good news for nigerians,

@paddy_lo
What was the fairest election ever held in Nigeria based on?In option A4,at least the voter's vote counts hence the intimidation.Can the riggers intimidate the whole country via A4?Isnt it better than mass-producing election boxes and papers at home and presenting as the choice of the populace?Talk about disenfranchisement and you'll see that the real Nigerian now has a vote that TRULY COUNTS.You'll see patriotic Nigerians come out on the election day to express their power instead of sittin' down at home.There was a polling booth close to my house then and i saw Nigerians troop out to line up in the sun.They were counted and the result was declared on the spot.I saw this as a kid and up till now,i haven't witnessed anything as beautiful as this in 3 election years.
Seriously,thats why i said the method was crude but it worked,didn't it?

Hope it wont favor the corrupt leaders