Barely a week after the gubernatorial elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that it will hold supplementary elections on April 15, 2023.
These elections are to hold in states where elections were declared inconclusive.
These supplementary elections will be conducted in over 2600 polling units across 185 local government areas in 24 states in Nigeria, and they will conclude the governorship, house of assembly, senate, and house of representatives elections in those specific constituencies where they had been previously cancelled.
What is a supplementary election?
A supplementary election is an election that concludes an otherwise incomplete election.
It “supplements” an inconclusive election, acting as a panacea for an election that has been declared inconclusive.
What causes an election to be deemed inconclusive?
An election is deemed inconclusive when the outcome of that election cannot convincingly present a winner in accordance with the 2022 Electoral Act.
There are many scenarios that can lead to such; an election can be inconclusive when the number of votes cast exceeds the number of accredited voters. Results from such elections are cancelled.
An election can also be declared inconclusive when the margin of win is less that the total number of cancelled votes.
The Electoral Act empowers INEC to declare or determine polling unit results as inconclusive or null and void when the electoral process is marred by irregularities such as electoral violence, INEC’s inability to deploy officials to polling units, BVAS’s failure to accredit voters in the polling unit, or instances of overvoting.
In such cases, a winner cannot be declared.
What happens after INEC declares an election inconclusive?
A new date for a fresh election in specific areas would be determined and fixed. The powers vested in INEC by the Electoral Act to decide the dates for elections also apply to supplementary elections. The conduct of the supplementary election is similar to that of the regular election.
Supplementary elections in Nigerian history
2011
The first time a “supplementary election” was mentioned in Nigeria’s democratic process was in 2011, under the leadership of former INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega.
A supplementary election was scheduled to hold in four local governments and one ward in Imo after the state’s gubernatorial election was declared inconclusive by INEC.
The news was met with varying reactions by Nigerians, with many regarding them as unconstitutional.
2015
Supplementary elections were held in Taraba and Kogi states. The election in Kogi was declared inconclusive due to inconsistencies in the margin of votes won between the contestants and the number of registered voters.
2019
Elections were declared inconclusive in six states: Kano, Sokoto, Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, and Adamawa.
The elections were cancelled due to various incidences of violence and reports of hijacking of electoral materials, which made the number of cancelled votes exceed the margin of winning votes. INEC had to fix a fresh date for supplementary elections in those places.
2023
After the general elections of February 25, 2023, the senatorial elections held in Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara were declared inconclusive. Federal constituency elections in fourteen other states were also inconclusive.
After the governorship elections of March 17, 2023, elections in Kebbi and Adamawa states were inconclusive due to inconsistencies in the margin of registered voters and votes won by the candidates.
State constituency elections in Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa were also declared inconclusive.
As a voter, it is understandable that returning to vote multiple times in one election can be daunting. However, it is important to be an active participant in democracy.
Supplementary elections often record low voter turnout, hence, the people who decide to participate in such elections have a deciding role that cannot be overemphasised.