The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that holding a recall election is more costly than holding a constituency election.
Mohammed Kunna, the Special Adviser to the INEC Chairman, disclosed this information in an online debate on INEC Regulation and Guidelines for Recall, 2024.
The event, which took place on Saturday on the social networking platform X, centred on the topics of conversation, including IREV: Facts and Myths and BVAS.
Kunna noted that holding a recall election was comparable to holding elections for three constituencies.
“Once a petition is received and verified to meet legal requirements, INEC must first conduct a verification exercise at the affected polling units.
“For that verification to happen, we have to use the Bi-Modal Voter Verification System (BVAS) because those who signed the petition must be verified as genuine registered voters in those units.
“Then, INEC needs to establish 50 per cent plus one signature from the constituency.
“After that, we proceed to the final stage: conducting the referendum, which involves a yes or no vote by registered voters in the constituency,” Kunna said.
He said that the process involved mobilising staff, deploying election materials, transportation, and other resources, much like conducting three senatorial district elections.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the INEC Chairman of Chief Press Secretary, also acknowledged the high expense while emphasising that INEC must follow the law.
Oyekanmi previously pointed out that the Electoral Act and INEC’s rules outlined the procedure for holding a recall election.
“The law allows a recall election only if the petitioners meet constitutional requirements, including submitting signatures from at least half of the registered voters in the constituency.
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“Once the petition is received, INEC performs a preliminary check and then verifies the signatures.
“The lawmaker facing recall is informed and has the right to deploy agents to observe the process,” he said.
The Chief Press Secretary acknowledged the potential for online voting but asserted that INEC was not authorised by the Constitution to use electronic voting.
