Nigeria's Buhari Approves Election Law to Improve Transparency
Nigerian
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday approved an amended electoral law that
will allow electronic transfer of vote results during the 2023 elections in a
bid to improve transparency.
Ballots
in Nigeria have often been marred by electoral fraud claims and court
challenges since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.
The
bill allows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to authorize
electronic transmission of voting results and the electronic registration of
voter identities to help prevent fraud.
"There
are salient and praiseworthy provisions that could positively revolutionize
elections in Nigeria through the introduction of new technological
innovations," Buhari said during the signing of the bill.
"These
innovations would guarantee the constitutional rights of citizens to vote and
to do so effectively."
A
dispute over the electronic transfer of votes erupted in the senate last year
during a debate over the law, when the ruling APC party said INEC could only
manage the electronic ballot transfer with the national telecoms commission.
That
outraged the opposition, which said the move would undermine the independence
of INEC. The senate later voted to allow INEC to decide.
Buhari,
who was first elected in 2015, had initially rejected the new law over its
inclusion of primaries to choose candidates, claiming it would infringe on
party bylaws and lead to insecurity during the polls.
A
former military ruler, he will step down after serving two four-year terms, and
political leaders are already maneuvering for position before the February 2023
ballot.
No
clear candidate has emerged to replace Buhari, but the ruling APC party has
several hopefuls, including influential former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.
The
country's independent electoral commission INEC came under fire after Buhari's
re-election in 2019 over claims the ballot was not free or transparent.
The
opposition challenged the results in court in part because of concerns over the
legality of the electronic transfer of tallies.
Buhari won 56 percent of the 2019 vote, but his rival Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) filed a challenge in the Supreme Court.
VOA
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