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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.

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