ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's
parliament has voted to amend the country's electoral act to allow more time
for registering voters for April's nationwide polls, after supplier problems
and technical glitches caused delays.
Successfully registering an
estimated 70 million people is key to ensuring elections are more credible than
in the past.
An electoral roll riddled with
fictitious names and omitting legitimate voters, combined with ballot-stuffing
and intimidation, marred previous votes in Africa's most populous nation so
badly that observers refused to sign off on them.
Both of Nigeria's houses of
parliament have in the last two days voted in favour of amending the 2010
electoral act to allow voter registration to be completed 30 days before the
elections rather than 60 days.
Attahiru Jega, chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told Nigeria's Senate the
voting registration process was behind schedule because voter capture machines
arrived late and fingerprint scanners were faulty.
"The first day was a
disaster," Jega said at a hearing with Nigeria's Senate, as he asked for
an extension to the registration period.
"On the day we commenced the
registration only 110,000 out of 132,000 direct capture machines had been
delivered ... we now have all machines delivered in the country."
Senators questioned INEC's
performance but voted in favour of the amendment despite concerns about the
increased costs and the potential knock-on effects on the election.
Parliamentary elections will be held
on April 2 and voters will elect governors in the country's 36 states to round
off the process on April 16.
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