By GEB
Watchers of democracy are quite justified in being disillusioned about how politicians undermine the rules, flouting guidelines on the timing of electioneering campaigns with impunity. In gross violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, politicians across the divide have commenced open and sometimes grandiose campaigns ahead of the 2027 General Elections. Yet, Institutional frameworks that underpin the hallmarks of democracy make the regulation of activities of political parties and conduct of political actors compelling.
This becomes imperative as a way of demanding accountability and responsibility from actors and stakeholders in the political process. Therefore, the need to regulate political activities to foster rules of engagement among political actors, as enunciated in the Electoral Act, cannot be overemphasised.
Regulation of political activities becomes more pertinent to ensure orderly democratic processes, particularly concerning electioneering activities. For politics to serve the greater good of the majority in society, political parties and actors are expected to act within the ambit of the law and demonstrate utmost compliance with the rules and guidelines, irrespective of position, authority, or sphere of influence.
Unfortunately, rules and guidelines of politicking and electioneering are often subverted through manipulation by actors in utter desperation to covet political power. It should be worrisome that the undermining of rules and regulations of political activities and, more importantly, electioneering has become a norm among Nigerian politicians. Regrettably, the business of governance is negatively impacted as a result of flagrant infractions of electoral laws regulating political activities and the electioneering process.
The predisposition for flouting the rules and regulations on electioneering campaigns by political actors with the advantage of power of incumbency speaks to the culture of impunity that has taken firm root in the country. While previous elections were characterised by premature campaigns, the prevailing scenario is perturbing as politicians appear to have thrown caution to the wind and become unrestrained in their urge to violate the electoral law with impunity.
Whereas, Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 clearly stipulates that campaigns for an election shall commence 150 days before the polling day and end 24 hours before the day of election, politicians have commenced political activities and even campaigns several months ahead of the 2027 General Election. Notwithstanding that Section 95 (1) of the Act provides that campaigns must comply with rules and regulations of the electoral law in accordance with the guidelines of the electoral body, compliance with these provisions is observed in the breach.
An advocacy group on credible elections, YIAGA AFRICA, warned that the mounting political tensions in the country, which provide incentives for premature campaigns, could further erode the already dwindling public trust in the electoral process. There should be no denying the fact that public interest in the electoral process has been substantially negatively impacted owing to the misgivings that characterised the outcomes of the last two general elections in 2019 and 2023, as well as the successive off-cycle polls compared to the remarkable improvements witnessed during the 2015 General Elections.
A heightened political tension on account of the desperation for survival by politicians, which ostensibly has fuelled mass defections and political realignments, has the propensity to deepen the crisis during the primary elections for the selection of candidates as well as during the general elections. It would now appear that political office holders no longer care about the need to accord the affairs of governance the seriousness and preference it demands, considering the prevailing desperation to remain in office beyond 2027. Without doubt, the early campaign for elections is bound to take a huge toll on the primary assignment of governance, which benefits the generality of the populace.
The motivation for premature campaigns ahead of the 2027 General Elections is, however, understandable; no thanks to the glee of defection into the fold of the ruling party and the intense squabbles and realignments within the ranks of the major opposition political parties. The call by the Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, for stronger institutional safeguards that compel restraints among political actors for compliance with rules and guidelines is indeed timely. However, it is important to reiterate that the challenge with non-compliance with the rules and regulations of political activities and the electioneering process in Nigeria is not the absence of laws.
The dilemma inevitably boils down to the character of the politics, which is essentially transactional rather than being driven by the urge to genuinely serve. Therefore, genuine democracy runs higher risks of uncertainty when transactional politics rooted in elite bargaining and selfish aggrandisement become the incentives for high-stakes political activities as well as desperation for premature electioneering campaigns.
The new leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be more decisive in demanding compliance from political parties about extant provisions regulating political activities and electioneering campaigns. Any political party that tolerates the use of its platforms and machinery to flout rules and regulations regarding conditions and timelines for political activities and electioneering campaigns should be publicly reprimanded as well as appropriately sanctioned.
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