Senate Presidency: Senators-elect reject Open Voting

Senators-elect across party lines have rejected plans to foist Open Voting Pattern on lawmakers ahead of the election of the Senate President.

They insisted that the Secret Voting Pattern is the one recognized by the 2015 version of the Senate Rule Book.

The senators-elect mainly from the Peoples Democratic Party said Open Voting is contrary to what is inside of the 2015 Senate Rule Book, adding that the recent agitation to change the voting pattern for the ninth National Assembly leadership will unnecessarily heat up the polity.

According to one of the PDP senators-elect: “How can any group be agitating against what is already written in the Senate Rule Book, which states that the Senate leadership will be elected through Open Secret Ballot system?”

Also, some of the All Progressives Congress senators-elect expressed dismay with the continuous bullying and arm twisting of senators-elect by the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, and his cohort like common children by wanting to foist Senator Ahmad Lawan on them.

The senators said the agenda of imposition may eventually backfire if the leadership of APC fails to turn a new leaf.

One of the senators-elect added that it is laughable to call for open ballot voting in order to impose Lawan on lawmakers like “class captain”.

Another senator backed the “secret ballot” system with International law, explaining that it was not an agenda of the eight Senate.

The senator pointed out that it was in line with international law practiced in many developed nations of the World.

According to him: “Let it be known that Open Secret ballot system is the standard system of voting in any civilized democracy, which will enable senators-elect vote their leaders without fear or intimidation.”

The angry lawmakers cited Article 21.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “The will of the people shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

The lawmaker also added: “The Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica), which grants every citizen of member states of the Organization of American States the right and opportunity to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters.

“The Paragraph 7.4 of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, obligates the member states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to ensure that votes are cast by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, and that they are counted and reported honestly with the official results made public.”