Skip to main content

ECOWAS Parliament Reinforce moves to elect members by Direct Universal Suffrage


The members of the Ad-hoc committee in charge of the election of Members of the ECOWAS Parliament through direct universal suffrage commence action in achieving it's mandate.    


The committee which met from 8th to 12th December 2020, in Lagos, Nigeria was set up to examine and propose mechanisms to make the election of Members of Parliament by direct universal suffrage a reality. 

The meeting was aimed at strengthening the knowledge of members of the committee on the challenges of electing representatives to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by direct universal suffrage. 


The meeting captured presentations by the Parliament Managerial staff on "The Evolution of the ECOWAS Parliament, a historical Perspective", "Justification of the election of deputies by direct universal suffrage" and "A Comparative Analysis of direct election systems practiced in the ECOWAS Region".


Aware of the role of an elected Parliament in facilitating the participation of the people in regional governance, the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Rt. Hon. Sidie Tunis, identified the election of MPs by direct universal suffrage as a flagship political program of his mandate during the inauguration of the 5th Legislature. 



Under Article 18 of the Additional Act of December 2016 on the strengthening of the Prerogatives of Parliament, the 115 members of the Community Assembly are elected by direct universal suffrage by the citizens of the Member States.


While waiting for this system to take effect, the National Assemblies of various Member States or the institutions or equivalent bodies elect the deputies from within at the moment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reject List From Countries In breach Of 30 Percent Women Representation – Njai Tells ECOWAS Parliament

A Gambian representative to the ECOWAS Parliament, Honorable Fatoumatta Njai has challenged the Community Parliament to reject list of countries that are short of thirty percent women’s representation to the Parliament. Speaking in an exclusive interview at the official Opening Ceremony of the Fifth Legislature’s delocalized meeting of the Joint Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment / Education, Science and Culture/Health, currently holding in Monrovia, Liberia on the theme, “ Empowerment of Women in the ECOWAS Region.” Njai said that some countries lack female representation in the Conference of Bureau, this according to her is disregarding the ECOWAS Rules of Procedure. “The Rules of Procedures mentioned that each member country should have a female representation at the Conference of Bureau. Each country has three members in the Conference of Bureau, so each country can at least have one female member which will be thirty percent representation. I thin...
Post a Comment
Read more
Benin Republic set to review Constitution on terms of Political Office. In a year when many countries on the continent and in West Africa are changing their constitutions to allow for incumbent presidents to run yet again, the Beninese National Assembly has approved a major constitutional reform to discuss the precision on the two terms of office of the President of the Republic among other issues. Detailing the political situation of Benin at the floor of the ECOWAS Parliament, the country report presented contained that the constitutions review was to address the current political situation of the country marking a new Republic following two unsuccessful attempts. The report stated that “Benin Republic has after the April 2019 Legislative elections experienced a tense atmosphere following the frustrating feelings from political group who were unable to participate in the legislative elections, due to the inability to meet the requirement on the law on the constit...
Post a Comment
Read more
Nigerian senator dies in UK A senator representing Cross River North, Rose Oko, is dead. The 63-year-old senator died on Monday night at a United Kingdom (UK) medical facility where she had been receiving treatment in the last one month. Oko was a member of the House of Representatives representing Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency during the 7th National Assembly. Senator Oko was elected into office as the first female representative from her constituency in June 2011, and is currently in her second-term member of the upper chamber and served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment. Her death comes about six weeks after Plateau senator, Ignatius Longjan, passed on and three months after Imo senator, Ben Uwajumogwu, died.
Post a Comment
Read more