A Constitution Alteration Bill before the Senate is proposing to provide for independent candidates for elective positions into all levels of government. The bill is sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah (APC, Anambra).Independent candidacy is practised in some countries, although at different levels of government. While in the United States, independent candidates have featured in presidential, gubernatorial and congress elections, in Canada, the practice seems to be more common in municipal level elections. In South Africa, the Constitutional Court ruled in June 2020, that the country\u2019s Electoral Act was unconstitutional to the extent that it did not allow citizens to contest as independent candidates for the national and provincial legislative elections. This was described as a defining point for the country\u2019s electoral process. The 1999 Nigerian Constitution requires that any person contesting in an election must be a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are benefits to\nindependent candidacy, as it partly presents a solution to the challenge of\nmarginalisation of certain groups of persons, such as women, youths and persons\nwith disabilities in Nigerian elections. Rather than dealing with the intrigues\nof political party politics, a person aspiring to a political office may resort\nto independent candidacy as an avenue to contest for elections. It may also\nmean that if such a person wins an election, they are likely to serve the\nelectorate, rather than the agenda of a political party, especially giving that\nNigerian political parties are bereft of ideologies or strong principles, and\nseldom fulfill their manifestos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are also\npotential challenges posed by independent candidacy. This bill addresses one of\nsuch issues, which is the possibility that it will be an entry point for all\nand sundry to get on the ballot paper.\nThe conditions provided in the bill set a threshold for aspirants who want to\ncontest as independent candidates. In addition to paying fees prescribed by the\nIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC), candidates must garner a\nstipulated minimum number of signatures from registered voters within electoral\nconstituencies, depending on the position they want to contest for. The\nproliferation of political parties and candidates has been a challenge for\nelection management in Nigeria. This was brought to the fore in the 2019\ngeneral elections, where 93 parties participated, with 79 fielding candidates\nfor the presidential elections. Long ballot papers featuring these parties and\ntheir logos constituted a problem for voters who were sometimes confused by the\nplethora of parties vying for a particular position, and the electoral\nmanagement body whose responsibility it is to count the votes. Also, this made\nit difficult for voters to fold ballot papers in such a manner that their\nthumbprints would not get on to other parts of the ballot paper and void their\nvotes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funding is a\npotential challenge that independent candidates may be faced with. Unlike\npolitical parties with internal funding structures, independent candidates may\nhave to make tremendous efforts to source for campaign funds and cover other\ncosts associated with elections. The bill proposes a 50% waiver of any\nadministrative fees prescribed by INEC for female independent candidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If independent\ncandidacy is to be implemented effectively, it is important that relevant\nchecks are put in place by way of Constitutional provisions, the electoral law and\nregulations of the electoral umpire, to guide the practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n