There was high tension on Monday as uncertainty trailed the voting pattern that would be adopted for the election into the office of Senate President on Tuesday.
This was because the Senate’s rule book is silent on it.
It was gathered that the last election conducted in the Senate during the election of Senator David Mark was by open ballot.
Addressing journalists on Friday, a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, said: “The procedure is there in the Rules and I am not going to participate in the voting, so I will be very careful not to delve into it.
“In the practice we had in the last session during the election of David Mark, they called each senator, you stand up, mention your name and mention the senator you vote for.”
The Senate Rule 3 Order (E): When only two Senators-elect are nominated and seconded as President of Senate, the election shall be conducted as follows:
Subsection (1): the Senate shall divide with proposer and seconders as Tellers.
(11) Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the-table using the division list of the Senate with Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.
(111) The clerk shall then declare the senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes elected as President of Senate.
(F) When more than two Senators-elect are nominated and seconded as President of the Senate, the division shall be conducted in the manner prescribed(e) and the senator-elect who has received a majority of votes shall be the President of the Senate. In the event of no senator having received a majority of votes in the division, the name of the candidate having smallest numbers of votes shall be excluded from subsequent division.
It was gathered that some senators-elect may not be comfortable with the open voting pattern but the rule of the Senate does not give room for debate and no question of privilege may be raised.
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