Nigeria’s National Assembly has scrapped a bill that would have made voting mandatory, a statement from the House of Representatives speaker said Monday following a backlash from lawyers and rights groups.
The bill — which proposed a six-month jail term or a 100,000 naira fine for eligible voters who failed to cast their ballots, sailed through the second reading in parliament — 10 days ago.
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A statement from the office of the speaker Abbas Tajudeen, who co-sponsored the bill, said he had decided to withdraw the bill “following extensive consultations with a broad spectrum of stakeholders”.
The bill was “introduced with the best of intentions, which is to bolster civic engagement and strengthen our democracy by encouraging higher voter turnout”, said the statement.
Turnout in Nigeria’s national elections has steadily declined in recent years, with the 2023 presidential election recording a 27 percent turnout, the lowest since the nation returned to democratic rule in 1999.
Former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu won that election 37 percent of the votes cast in one of Nigeria’s most tightly fought elections.
“Compulsory voting has long been practised with notable success in countries such as Australia, Belgium and Brazil,” said the speaker’s statement.
But Nigerian rights groups dismissed the attempt, with some calling it draconian and unconstitutional.
An Abuja-based non-profit which promotes democratic governance, human rights and civic engagement said the bill is “draconian and it constitutes a gross violation of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights”.
“Democracy is not sustained by coercion,” said the Nigerian Bar Association’s chief Mazi Afam Osigwe. “The moment citizens are forced to vote under the threat of imprisonment, the entire essence of free and fair elections collapses.”
Prominent Nigerian lawyer said it would practically be “impossible to prosecute millions of Nigerians who may decide to boycott national and local elections that have been reduced to the periodic renewal of misgovernance, corruption, and abuse of power by pampered members of the political class.”
Less than 20 other countries enforce compulsory voting, according to the electoral commission in Australia where mandatory voting is a mainstay for the country’s federal polls since 1925.
Voters who fail to cast a ballot on election day are fined 20 Australian dollars ($13 USD), a small but effective penalty. Turnout has never dipped below 90 percent in Australia.
AFP