PDP, APC agree to cooperate for successful 2015 elections

Representatives of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have agreed to work together towards a successful 2015 elections and identified the passage of the Electoral Offenses Act as a vital step towards achieving that.

The two parties during a set of meetings in Washington convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, USA, said the passage of the legislation would discourage electoral fraud while ensuring integrity of the electoral process. They agreed to press legislators

for timely passage of the Act.
A statement from the organization, signed by Ben Hubner, its Africa program coordinator and research associate, indicated that the PDP was represented by Dr. Doyin Okupe, while the APC was represented by Alhaji Lai mohammed and that both parties discussed strategies for enforcing good conduct among candidates in the forthcoming elections.
“They held a public conference at CSIS and private meetings with the U.S. Department of State, National Security Staff, and Nigeria experts from Washington’s main democracy-promotion organizations,” he stated.
The CSIS said other areas the two leading Nigerian parties agreed on include the  need to ensure the integrity, transparency, and timely completion of the voter registration process saying  the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (INEC), party members, and civil society all have an important roles to play in educating voters on the registration process and encouraging them to register.
“Representatives from both parties agreed to work on a common code of conduct that commits party leaders to speak out against violence and incitement of violence, and to publicly admonish candidates, party members, and supporters who resort to inflammatory rhetoric or who seek to exacerbate religious, regional, or ethnic divisions.
“Both parties also agreed to hold a joint press conference in the run-up to the upcoming Ekiti and Osun State elections scheduled for June, 2014, to lay out principles of moderation of rhetoric, discouragement of violence, respect of electoral outcomes, and the pursuit of redress of grievances through established, lawful process,” the statement added.

Representatives of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have agreed to work together towards a successful 2015 elections and identified the passage of the Electoral Offenses Act as a vital step towards achieving that.

The two parties during a set of meetings in Washington convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, USA, said the passage of the legislation would discourage electoral fraud while ensuring integrity of the electoral process. They agreed to press legislators for timely passage of the Act.
A statement from the organization, signed by Ben Hubner, its Africa program coordinator and research associate, indicated that the PDP was represented by Dr. Doyin Okupe, while the APC was represented by Alhaji Lai mohammed and that both parties discussed strategies for enforcing good conduct among candidates in the forthcoming elections.
“They held a public conference at CSIS and private meetings with the U.S. Department of State, National Security Staff, and Nigeria experts from Washington’s main democracy-promotion organizations,” he stated.
The CSIS said other areas the two leading Nigerian parties agreed on include the  need to ensure the integrity, transparency, and timely completion of the voter registration process saying  the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (INEC), party members, and civil society all have an important roles to play in educating voters on the registration process and encouraging them to register.
“Representatives from both parties agreed to work on a common code of conduct that commits party leaders to speak out against violence and incitement of violence, and to publicly admonish candidates, party members, and supporters who resort to inflammatory rhetoric or who seek to exacerbate religious, regional, or ethnic divisions.
“Both parties also agreed to hold a joint press conference in the run-up to the upcoming Ekiti and Osun State elections scheduled for June, 2014, to lay out principles of moderation of rhetoric, discouragement of violence, respect of electoral outcomes, and the pursuit of redress of grievances through established, lawful process,” the statement added.