Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, August 01, 2011

Following Mexico's example

A proposal in Nigeria would make non-reelection the rule as it is in Mexico. Would it have the same political results?

Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan proposes one-term limits

Nigeria's leader Goodluck Jonathan has said he will ask MPs to amend the constitution so that future presidents serve a single, longer term in office.

The constitution currently limits presidents to two four-year terms…

Mr Jonathan did not specify how long the new term should be, but he said the change would focus politicians more on governance and less on re-election.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in the commercial capital, Lagos, says it is thought the new single term would be for six years.

The statement said Mr Jonathan "was concerned about the acrimony which the issue of re-election every four years generates…"

Jonathan Proposes One Term for President, Govs

In the midst of the storm over his proposal for a single-term tenure for the president and governors, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday declared that he would not benefit from the new order.

Commentators had alleged that he was seeking to extend his tenure through the back door by proposing an amendment to the constitution which could keep him in power for more years after his four-year tenure ends in 2015…

Jonathan explained that his pushing for a single-term tenure was out of his patriotic zeal as well as the fact that the two terms provided for in the constitution does not guarantee stabilising the polity and institutionalisation of democracy which was not good "for our level of development".

He further explained that the acrimony, which follows the issue of election and re-election at federal and state levels, overheats the polity and added to inter and intra party squabbles which affect the growth of political parties in the country.

He came to the conclusion that a single tenure would help executives concentrate on governance and development.

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Labels: elections, Nigeria, politics