This question was posed to Halifa Sallah and he said the following:
Constitutional reform should have guided electoral reform. The reason for this is simple. No law can be above the Constitution. Hence any clause in the Elections Bill that does not conform with the provisions of the Constitution will automatically become null and void.
I have pointed out the need for a selective amendment of the 1997 Constitution in order to bring it into conformity with the promises made to introduce a term limit, the fifty percent plus one principle in the ballot for the presidency, entrenching diaspora voting, removing all restrictions for participation of civil servants in elections, introducing a quota system for women in representative and executive institutions through women alone candidature, representation of male and female persons with disability in all representative institutions and the removal of all unreasonable monetary restriction to candidature.Such constitutional reform would provide a reasonable and justifiable foundation for electoral reform. Without such a foundation the legislatures will just be groping in the dark and may end up with electoral reform that may be at variance the provisions of the 1997 Constitution.
