Section 107
Death of Chairman or Vice-Chairman before oath of office(1) If a person duly elected as Chairman dies before taking and subscribing to the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office, the person elected with him or her as Vice-Chairman shall be sworn in as Chairman who shall then nominate and with the approval of a majority of the members of the Area Legislative Council appoint a new Vice-Chairman.
(2) Where the Vice-Chairman is appointed from among the Councilors as the new Vice-Chairman, the Commission shall conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seat created in the Ward from which the new ViceChairman has been appointed.
(3) Where the persons duly elected as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of an Area Council die before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office during which period the Area Council has not been inaugurated the Commission shall within 21 days conduct an election to fill the vacancies.
(4) If, after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a nominated candidate dies—
(a) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days; and
(b)
in the case of election into a legislative House, the election shall start afresh and the political
party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a
fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit the name of a new candidate to the
Commission to replace the dead candidate:
Provided that in the case of Area Council Chairmanship election, the running mate of the deceased
candidate shall continue with the election and nominate a new running mate.
This section addresses cases where a vacuum may occur due to the death of an Area Council Chairman or Vice Chairman.
Similar to the provisions for President and Governor in sections 136 and 181 of the Constitution. It provides that a Vice Chairman shall be sworn in as Chairman where the Chairman dies before taking and subscribing to the Oath of Office. The new Chairman will subsequently nominate a new Vice Chairman from among the Councilors, which a majority of the Councilors will have to approve.
Subsequently, INEC is to conduct a bye-election to fill the vacancy in the seat of the Councilor who was appointed Vice Chairman.
Note: Where both Chairman-elect and Vice-Chairman elect die before inauguration, the Commission shall instead, conduct an election within 21 days to fill the vacancies arising from the deaths.
Section 107 (4) includes new provisions for the procedure to be followed in cases of death of a candidate after commencement of poll, but before declaration of result in Area Council Elections. It is similar to the newly introduced provision in section 34 for other elective offices.
Where INEC has ascertained the death of a candidate, it may suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days. Political parties must also conduct a fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate as replacement for election into the Legislative House of the Area Council (applies to councilors only).
However, for Area Council Chairmanship Election (executive position), the running mate of the deceased candidate is to pick a new running mate and continue the election.
See sections 136 and 181 of the Constitution for similar provisions on death of President-elect/Governor-elect before oath of office.
