The Inter Party Advisory Council, also known as IPAC, is unhappy about a new plan from the Senate. This plan wants to make something called the Local Government Independent Electoral Commission, but IPAC thinks it’s a bad idea.
IPAC says we should change the rules so that INEC (the Independent National Electoral Commission) can run all local government elections. The IPAC Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, talked about this on Monday in Abuja when INEC met with various political parties.
IPAC also wants to get rid of the States Independent Electoral Commissions, or SIECs. They believe that if INEC runs all local elections, people will trust the voting system more.
Dantalle talked about the upcoming election in Edo State. He stressed that it’s very important for this election to be fair, honest, transparent, and peaceful. He believes that if the Edo and Ondo elections go well, people will start to trust the voting process again, which is very important for good government.
To make democracy stronger at the local level, IPAC wants SIECs to be eliminated immediately. Dantalle said that the elections SIECs run are not real elections. He described them as a waste of money that could be used for better things like development projects.
SIECs do not have voter lists, proper equipment like BVAS and IReV portals, or trained staff to run good elections. Because of this, the elections they run make people less interested in voting and less trusting of the voting process.
IPAC does not support the Senate’s new plan to set up a Local Government Independent Electoral Commission. They believe it will just be like having another SIEC. This, they say, will be a waste of money and will make the voting system worse at a time when people want the government to spend less money and be more efficient.