US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1975

UNCLAS ABUJA 001975 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: "INDEPENDENT" NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION 
PROPOSES LEGAL CHANGES 
 
REF: ABUJA 1468 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, NOT FOR PUBLICATION ON THE 
INTERNET OR INTRANET. 
 
 
1. (SBU) In August, the ruling PDP rammed 10 new 
Commissioners through the Senate despite a walkout by all of 
the opposition, and even some members from the ruling PDP, 
who complained the new majority among the 12 Commissioners 
would be partisans of the President (Ref A).  The complaints 
fell on deaf ears; PDP Senators confirmed the nomination 
without debate and the President swore in his new 
Commissioners within 48 hours of submitting their names to 
the Senate.  INEC Chairman Guobadia did not resign at this 
challenge to the "I" in INEC's name, and he is not one of the 
Commissioners. 
 
 
2. (SBU) Earlier this month, Commissioner Maurice Iwu 
presented a paper -- he said on behalf of all the INEC 
Commissioners -- at a UN panel on election administration 
calling for several changes in the Election Law and possibly 
the Constitution.  On the face of it, two of the four changes 
are not controversial: 
 
 
-- giving INEC investigative capacity to implement the 
mandate it already has to monitor political parties' 
compliance with financial regulations; and 
 
 
-- limiting changes in candidates at the last minute before 
elections. 
 
 
Two other proposed legal changes were instantly 
controversial, to give the now allegedly partisan 
Commissioners new legal powers: 
 
 
-- "to sanction erring political parties, including 
de-registration;" and 
 
 
-- to ensure that INEC Returning Officers, "whose loyalty is 
questionable," should not override or supercede the INEC 
Commissioners in conducting elections - a case, the reported 
INEC proposal said, "of a hired servant having more powers 
than the master." 
 
 
3. (SBU) INEC's staff is working on legal change proposals 
too, and they probably differ from the latter two in only 
allowing INEC to de-register parties it believes are 
essentially defunct, and eliminating two middle layers of 
Returning Officers between the voting site Returning Officer 
and Constituency or State Returning Officers. 
 
 
4. (SBU) Echoing language from Commissioner Iwu's 
presentation, INEC Chairman Guobadia has written to the 
leadership of the National Assembly and the chairmen of the 
political parties of INEC's intention to present legislation 
to the National Assembly for changing the Election Law. 
Guobadia asked the chairmen to meet with him November 27 to 
discuss the issue. 
MEECE