Neco Model Questions Vol1 2023 Government Question 33

An amendment to the Constitution requires a two‑thirds majority in both the House of Representatives (150 members) and the Senate (100 members). In the latest session, 120 members of the House voted ‘yes', 30 voted ‘no' and 5 abstained. In the Senate, 65 voted ‘yes', 20 voted ‘no' and 15 abstained. After passing both houses, the amendment must be ratified by a national referendum. The electorate is 5,000,000; voter turnout is 60 % and at least 55 % of the votes cast must be ‘yes' for ratification. In the referendum, 1,500,000 voted ‘yes', 800,000 voted ‘no' and the remaining votes were invalid. (a) Does the amendment pass the parliamentary stage? (b) If not, how many additional ‘yes' votes are needed in the Senate to meet the two‑thirds requirement, assuming abstentions could be turned into ‘yes' votes? (c) Is the amendment ratified by the referendum? If it fails, how many additional ‘yes' votes would be required, assuming the total number of votes cast remains the same?