Hopes of the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change to field a joint presidential candidate may have finally been dashed as the deadline for substitution of candidates ends on Monday (today).
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s timetable, withdrawal or substitution of presidential candidates ends today. Investigations showed that the CPC and the ACN had not foreclosed the possibility of a working relationship after the presidential poll.
THE PUNCH learnt that the two parties were banking on the possibility of a runoff, should a clear winner fail to emerge at the April presidential poll.
According to Section 134 (Sub-section 9) of the 1999 Constitution, a candidate can only be declared winner of a presidential election, if “he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election of at least two-thirds of all the states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
The constitution makes provision for a second election between two leading candidates, if none of them meets the above-mentioned requirement. The provision states that second election will be between the candidate who scored the highest number of votes in the first election and the first runner-up.
A chieftain of the ACN, who pleaded anonymity, said, “Our calculation is that the PDP may find it difficult to get one-quarter of votes in 36 states, even if it leads in the presidential poll.
“With the vigilance of Nigerians and the commitment of President Goodluck Jonathan to free and fair elections, Nigerians may for the first time witness a runoff election. In that case, the cooperation of opposition parties is inevitable.”
When contacted, the spokesman of the CPC’s presidential candidate, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said, “Our doors are open, like General Buhari said. We are ever ready for negotiation and co-operation.”
Efforts to reach the ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, did not succeed as his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off.
But a top officer of the party said, “You cannot rule anything out.”
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