The petitioner argued that voters, particularly in rural and marginalised areas, are often more familiar with candidates’ popular names than their official names, a situation that could lead to confusion, misidentification and rejected ballots. Senator Daniel Maanzo opposed the proposal, saying political parties should retain the constitutional mandate to determine their nominees through party lists. “Nominations should be left to political parties. Senator Tom Ojienda also cautioned against imposing term limits solely on nominated MCAs while elected members remain unaffected. Any reform should address nomination procedures through political parties rather than unfairly targeting one category of members,” Ojienda said.