To cut the long story short, there are two possibilities; either of which will have an implication on the law. If the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello wins the case, then it means that a case law would have been created to the effect that a political party can validly swap its flag bearer midway into the election (voting). Provided however, that the replacement contested in the party primaries and was the runner up. Thus, the votes of the previous candidate will be transferrable to the latter.
If the People's Democratic Party and its candidate win, then it means that once a candidate of a party is unable to continue midway into the election, his votes are not transferrable, he cannot be swapped with another person (including his running mate) and the candidate with the next highest number of votes (if the candidate unable to continue was leading) will be declared winner.
The Supreme Court just placed a stamp on party supremacy with the decision today.
ReplyDeleteIf this decision was given prior to the Amechi V INEC case, what would be it's impact on the Amechi case?
ReplyDeleteAmaechi's case would have remained the same. This is because in that case, the court held that Amaechi wasn't validly substitute. In this Bello's case, the court held that the substitution was valid.
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