Implications of the Long Electioneering Period

One of the key provisions of Electoral Act 2022 is the significant elongation of our electioneering period. Effectively, the time committed to elections is now close to one year, more than double the previous period. During the fevered advocacy for the bill to become law, this was promoted as one of its positive and landmark provisions. And in many ways, it is.

Clearly, having enough time for primaries, political campaigns and the elections proper has its uses. But every positive thing has at least a downside. It is doubtful if enough attention was devoted to the possible negative impacts or the unintended consequences of a long electioneering period before arriving at this consequential decision.

The train has since left the station. As such, we are far too gone to be able to change or moderate the possible downsides of a long electioneering period on the 2023 elections and the country at large. But it is not too early to start thinking about how to achieve a more optimal balance in the next amendment.

First, a quick look at the relevant sections of the law. Section 28 (1) of Electoral Act 2022 mandates the Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) to publish the notice of election not later than 360 days before the polls.

The bill was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 25th February 2022. The electoral management body complied with this provision the following day, 26th February. That almost one-year notice was all that the political actors needed to crank their election machines to life. They have not looked back since.

Section 29 (1) of the law stipulates that the political parties must submit the names of their candidates to INEC not later than 180 days to the elections; while Section 94 (1) states that political parties can commence public campaigns 150 days to the elections.

On the basis of these provisions, INEC set the following dates: party primaries from 4th April 2022 to 3rd June 2022 (later extended by six days); submission of the names of candidates for federal elections from 10th to 17th June 2022 and for state elections from 1st to 15th July; commencement of campaigns for federal elections on 28th September 2022 and for state elections on 12th October 2022.

This is what it has translated to: election notice was out a full year to the elections; candidates were in place by early June, almost nine months before the elections; campaigns will not start until late September/early October, at least three months after the candidates emerged and roughly five months before the polls.

The electioneering period now has enough air, and maybe too much air. Previously, the whole process was usually cramped within 90 days. This put a lot of pressure on all involved, especially the election management body.

The elongation sure has many benefits. The issue though is whether those same benefits could not have been retained by moving the election calendar from three months to five or six months, instead of to almost one year. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s exhaust the pros before we look at the cons, then the case for a middle-ground.

The first and most compelling benefit is that the extension gives INEC enough time to conduct free, fair and credible elections. Conducting elections in a complex and diverse country with spotty infrastructure like ours is no mean task. It is a major logistics undertaking, and requires meticulous planning, procurement of sensitive electoral materials that are not available off-the-shelf, and hiring and training of mostly ad-hoc staff members.

Combined with the provision in Section 3 (3) that the money for election must be released to INEC not later than a year before the general election, the increase in time is definitely good for the election management body, which commendably has been giving a good account of itself. INEC will thus have all the money and all the time it needs to perform even better.

The second benefit is that the extension grants INEC more flexibility to quickly and realistically adjust to emergencies or unforeseen developments. This is the luxury that ample time offers. Relatedly, the third benefit of the extension is that it will grant INEC enough wriggle room to accommodate resolution of pre-election matters by the courts. This is important given that the bulk of election litigations are pre-election matters and that judgements delivered close to the elections could lead to the need to print fresh ballot papers.

Beyond the obvious issue of cost, such scenarios also have logistics implications. Ballot papers, for security reasons, are not printed by just any printer, and the pre-selected and usually foreign printers may be fully booked when such an urgent need arises. The new provisions should insulate INEC from dealing with fewer of such logistics nightmares, especially because there is also a deadline for courts to resolve pre-election disputes.

Without a doubt, the extension gives INEC