Electoral Act Amendment Bill Proposes Granting Voting Rights to Prisoners in Nigeria

A bill submitted to the National Assembly is seeking the amendment of provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, to give inmates in Nigerian prisons the right to vote in elections in the country.

The proposed legislation copy is titled ‘Bill for An Act to amend the Electoral Act to provide for the right to vote of persons detained or incarcerated in custodial institutions and other places of detention; and related matters’.

Also known as ‘Electoral (Custodial Inmates) Bill, 2024′, the bill is sponsored by a not-for-profit organization, the Carmelite Prisoners Interest Organization, CAPIO, and drafted by the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, led by Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja.

To give voting rights to inmates of Nigerian prisons, the bill proposed amendments to relevant provisions of the current Electoral Act, 2022, particularly sections 9, 12, 13, 40 and 152.

Specifically, the bill suggested that Section 40 of the Electoral Act, 2022, should be amended by inserting after the existing subsection (2) thereof a new subsection (3) as follows:

“(3) The Commission (INEC) shall establish polling units in or proximate to a Custodial Centre and detention facility in consultation with the head of such institution or facility.”

The bill equally seeks to establish voters’ registration centres at prisons across the country.

This would be actualized by amending Section 9 of the Electoral Act, 2022, by inserting a new subsection (8), which reads:

“(8) The Commission shall designate registration centres in or proximate to Custodial Centres and detention facilities in consultation with the head of such institution or facility.”

Also, the proposed bill seeks to provide inmates, who were registered in a different area before their incarceration, with the right to transfer their polling units to the location of the prison in which they are held.

This is to be done by amending Section 13 of the Electoral Act by “deleting the existing subsection (1) and substituting therefore a new subsection as follows:

“(1) A person who before the election is resident in a constituency other than the one in which he or she was registered, including a person who is by reason of being in a detention facility or Custodial Centre resident in that constituency, may apply to the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the State where he or she is currently resident for his or her name to be entered on the Transferred Voters List for the constituency.”

Stating the need for the proposed amendment, the sponsors, Carmelite Prisoners Interest Organization, CAPIO, noted that the right to participate in the government of one’s country should not be denied to any eligible voter – whether free or in detention.

“These rights are enshrined in global, regional and national legal framework and instruments. Globally, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to take part in the government of his or her country either directly or through chosen representatives.

“In the same vein, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights highlights the right to vote without discrimination,” the group said.

CAPIO added that at the African regional level, Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights guarantees the right to participate freely in government, either directly or through elected representatives.

Similarly, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance emphasizes the right of citizens to participate in the electoral process freely and fairly, while the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended, also guarantees the right of citizens to vote in elections in the country.

The sponsor observed that even as various sections of the Constitution outline the rights and qualifications of citizens to participate in the electoral process, “neither the Constitution nor any other legislations prevent any Nigerian of 18 years and above from participating in elections in Nigeria”.

However, the sponsor expressed concern that, despite the Constitution guaranteeing their voting rights, inmates in Nigerian prisons have continued to be denied the opportunity to participate in the country’s electoral process.

“It is against the backdrop of addressing this right violation and disfranchisement of inmates in Nigeria, and promoting the observance of the right of inmates to vote in Nigeria, that this proposal becomes imperative,” it said.