Spokesman of the house of representatives, Benjamin Kalu says adoption of direct primary for selection of political party’s candidates will strengthen democracy.
The national assembly, on Tuesday, approved the conference committee report on the electoral act amendment bill, which will mandate direct primary for political parties.
This development has led to criticism from some stakeholders.
Kalu, who spoke on Wednesday when he featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, said: “Once we make laws from the parliament, the parties are obliged to submit themselves to the laws made to create the parameters of the operations; it is not the other way round,”
“And in the course of making laws, a lot of things come into play. The whole idea of making the laws is to enable people who are representing various constituencies to consider the pros and the cons of going in a particular direction. It goes beyond the colours of the political parties.
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“political parties are platforms that are supposed to be there to streghten the institution of democracy. We are the fulcrum of our democracy, the legislative arm; we know what is best for our country; we are the backbone.
“If you remove the legislative arm, the democracy will collpase. We have seen the benefits of direct primaries, that is why we are putting it in our laws to guide the various political primaries on the parameters of our operations to enable us advance our democracy from where it is to where it ought to be; even if not completely, at least quite closer to what they ought to be.”
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