2015: The Race Opens, Says INEC

Prof. Attahiru Jega

Communicates electoral guidelines, timetable for primaries to parties

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wednesday flagged off the contests for the 2015 polls, with the issuance of the notice on elections slated to take place in February 2015.

The notice, as contained in the INEC guidelines, is in line with Section 30 (1) of the Electoral Act.

According to the timetable also released yesterday morning to political parties, they have between October 2 and December 31 to conduct primaries to choose their candidates for the general election.

The commission also officially released the guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 general election to the 25 registered political parties in the country.

Already, some of the political parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have released their guidelines and timetables for the conduct of their presidential, governorship and legislative primaries.

In the notice of elections posted on its website, the commission said: “In accordance with Section 30 of the Electoral Act (as amended), notice is hereby given that election to the following offices shall hold as follows: the presidential and National Assembly elections shall take place on February 14, 2015 and the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections shall take place on February 28, 2015.”

According to the Electoral Act, INEC is expected to not less than 90 days to the conduct of the general election, release the timetable for the elections to the political parties.

By implication, the commission has effectively lifted the embargo on political activities for the 2015 general election, as political parties will be expected to conduct primaries for the various elective offices between October 2 and December 31.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu, who confirmed this on the phone, said this was in compliance with the Electoral Act.

“This is what the Electoral Act says. The guidelines were released to the political parties this morning; this were the same guideline we released in January this year,” Kayode disclosed.

The commission on Tuesday had held its quarterly meeting with leaders of the political parties where issues relating to guidelines on the conduct of party primaries and the newly created polling units were discussed.