The National Assembly Conference Committee on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill has adopted the reordering of schedule of elections approved by the House of Representatives, in which future presidential elections are held last.
This followed the meeting of the conference committee on Tuesday in Abuja, which adopted the recommendation of the House of Representatives.
To this end, both chambers of the National Assembly are expected to adopt the report of the committee, which would be presented in plenary any moment from now.
The development has confirmed BusinessDay story on Monday, which indicated that the version of the lower legislative chamber would be adopted.
Recall that the House of Representatives had voted to change the order of elections in the country, a move that will alter the dates and timetable recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the 2019 general elections, if the bill is enacted and signed into law.
In the proposal, lawmakers amended the 2010 Electoral Act by approving that the conduct of National Assembly election will hold first, followed by Governorship and House of Assembly, while the presidential election will be conducted last.
In INEC’s timetable, however, presidential and National Assembly elections were billed for February 16, 2019 and governorship and house of assembly poll fixed for March 2, 2019.
The conference committee, which is made up of lawmakers from both chambers, was set up to harmonise the two separate versions of the Electoral Act passed by both legislative bodies.
Details later…..
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
