What happens when a governorship candidate dies before an election?

Six weeks before the March 11, Governorship and House of Assembly elections, the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Professor Uche Ikonne, died at the age of 65.

Ikonne died at the National Hospital, Abuja on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, after a brief illness.

However, since his death was announced by his son, Chikezie Uche-Ikonne, and the PDP, there have been concerns about who would replace the deceased as the PDP governorship candidate in the forthcoming election.

What the law says about a candidate's death before an election

A candidate whose name has been submitted for an election cannot be substituted by a political party unless the candidate dies or withdraws from the contest.

But in this case, the nominated candidate died and there’s a need for his party to present another gubernatorial candidate before the governorship election scheduled to hold on March 11, 2023.

So, to address this, the Electoral Act makes provisions for the replacement of a candidate who dies before or during an election.

According to Section 33 of the Act, “A political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted under section 29 of this Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”.

The section further stated that in the case of death, the political party of the deceased will have to conduct a primary election within 14 days to produce a fresh candidate, whose name will thereafter be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The section reads further, “Provide that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall, within 14 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the Commission for the election concerned”.

Section 34 (1) of the Electoral Act further stipulates that “If after the time for the delivery of nomination paper and before the commencement of the poll, a nominated candidate dies, the Chief National Electoral Commissioner shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, countermand the poll in which the deceased candidate was to participate and the Commission shall appoint some other convenient date for the election within 14 days”.

Subsection two of the section quoted above added that “the list of voters to be used at a postponed election shall be the official voter register that was to be used if the election had not been postponed”.

If a candidate dies during an election

Section 34 (2) of the Electoral Act addresses a situation in which a candidate dies before the electoral commission announces the final result of the poll.

In this case, the law stipulates that the poll would be suspended for 21 days to enable the affected political party to produce a new candidate within 14 days.

“If after the commencement of polls and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a candidate dies — (a) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period, not more than 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”.

However, this does not apply to presidential, governorship candidates, and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections.

According to the law, if a candidate in the presidential, governorship or FCT area council elections dies during an election, “the running mate shall continue with the election and nominate a new running mate.”

Therefore, as stated by the law, the PDP in Abia State will have to conduct a fresh primary within two weeks to produce another candidate who will represent the party in the March 11 Governorship and House of Assembly elections.