The Not Too Young To Run Movement (NTYTRM) has kicked against automatic tickets and demanded free and fair party primaries for the 2019 General Elections.
One of the conveners and Executive Director of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA-Africa), Samson Itodo, said on Monday in Abuja that while some of the parties have published timetables for the conduct of their primaries, others are yet to make their timetable public.
“The movement notes with concern, actions by some political parties to impose candidates through the issuance of automatic tickets or ‘consensus’ candidacy.
“This is in addition to the high cost of forms imposed by some of the political parties. This development has become a major threat to the participation of youths, women and persons with disability.
“The imposition of candidates and issuance of automatic tickets reflect a lack of respect for democratic principles and norms, and it reduces the competitiveness of electoral politics,” Itodo said.
He therefore, urged the parties to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability in the conduct of primaries, provide credible list of delegates, and ensure party members are accessible to aspirants, observers and the media.
“Late hour changes to delegate list and venue of party primaries should be avoided. Changes should be made only after due consultations with stakeholders especially aspirants and their agents.
“Parties should provide leadership and demonstrate commitment to discourage vote buying as well as enforcing spending limits for campaigns and sanctioning members who use money or gift items to compromise delegates,” he said.
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