Senate approves report on amendment of electoral act, direct primaries for parties

The Senate on Tuesday at plenary approved the report of the conference committee report on amendment bill of the Electoral Act.

It also approved that all political parties must now use the direct primary mode in picking candidates.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, at the plenary.

The Senate and House of Representatives had in July passed different versions of the document.

In its submission, the upper legislative chamber proposed either direct or indirect party primary while the House of Representatives made direct primary compulsory for all parties.

The Senate also empowered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to determine whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can proceed with the plan electronic transmission of election results.

But the lower legislative chamber did not confer the commission with such powers.

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The Senate provisions irked Nigerians, leading to the formation of the conference committee to address the anomalies.

In the conference committee report, the two chambers empowered INEC to determine the most appropriate mode of transmitting election results in the country.

They also approved direct primary for all parties in the country.

The Clerk of the National Assembly, Amos Ojo, had been directed to send a clean copy of the document to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

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