2023: political parties get Aug. 18, 2022 dateline to submit candidates’ lists.
Political parties participating in the 2023 general elections are to submit the lists of their presidential and governorship candidates latest by Aug. 18, 2022, that is, 120 days before the elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had in April announced that the 2023 presidential elections would hold on February 18, 2023.
Periscope International reports that the National Assembly passed the 2021 Electoral Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari last week Friday, for assent.
The Bill will become a law once the president gives his accent to it and INEC would therefore expect political parties to submit the list of their candidates for the 2023 elections latest by August 18, 2022.
By implication, this extends the dates for political parties to submit the names of their candidates to INEC from 60 to 120 days before the elections.
It is stated in Section 31 of the amended act that, “Every political party shall not later than 60 days before the date appointed for a general election under the provisions of this Act, submit to the commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, provided that the commission shall not reject or disqualify the candidate (s) for any reason whatsoever.”
The amended Section 31 (1) now stipulates that “submission of lists of candidates by political parties shall be done not later than 120 days before the date appointed for a general election and candidates must have emerged from validly conducted primaries”.
