Court voids 2011 elections timetable

Tribune

04 March 2011

Court voids 2011 elections timetable

•Says NASS has no power to fix polls’ sequence

A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, declared Section 25 of the Electoral Act illegal, thereby nullifying the order of elections for the April polls as fixed by the National Assembly.  Justice Ibrahim Auta sided the Labour Party (LP) which initiated a suit on the legality of the provision, holding that it was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that had the power to fix order of elections and not the legislature.

The amended version of the Electoral Act had in Section 25 empowered the National Assembly to determine the order of elections, with the lawmakers fixing presidential elections first.

The Labour Party, in its suit challenging the order of election, argued that there would be a bandwagon effect if the presidential election took place before others, because, everybody would want to vote for the party of the president-elect.