By Felix Khanoba
Pro-democracy think tank, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) says the Presidential and National Assembly elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were fraughted by several loopholes.
The non-governmental organisation hinged its position on data received from its 4,900 field observers deployed across the country during the highly contested elections.
The Centre listed some of the loopholes that dented the elections to include operational issues, poor communication by INEC, violence, voter intimidation and vote buying as some of the anomalies, which undermined the process.
CDD, which made the observation in its post-election report, signed by its Director, Idayat Hassan, on Tuesday, therefore warned that on the basis of the loopholes, which characterised the process, there could be a wave of litigations after the declaration of the results.
The report read: “Nigeria is likely to see another wave of electoral litigation in its courts that will likely reverse some electoral outcomes and perhaps even impact on governance in the short-term.” Although the group applauded the fact that the election was not postponed like the past three elections, which have all been delayed, it however decried late arrival of INEC officials to polling units as well as challenges with bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS). CDD insisted that some voters voted in contravention of the legal framework, which requires that all voters must be authenticated by BVAS in order to vote.
The report noted that “Although less pronounced elsewhere in the country 8.7% of observers witnessed this taking place in south-south, 5.9% in southwest, 9.6% in the northeast, 4.2% in the southeast and 7.7% in the north-central zone. Technical issues were also noted by our observers, with 23.1% having witnessed issues of BVAS malfunction.
“This was particularly acute in the northeast, with 42.7% of observers recording a malfunction, but was also high in the northwest (28.7%).”
Consequently, the Centre flayed INEC for the poor handling of the Result Viewing Portal (IReV), which it stressed was designed to provide real-time transmission of election results (Form EC 8A) from polling units to the central collation centre. The group further stressed that the IReV was an attempt to enhance the transparency of the process, and reduce the incidence of vote rigging.
The group said as of 9pm on election day, there were no results uploaded to the platform for the presidential results, adding that at 11:00 on Monday 27 February only 53,154 polling unit results out of a total of 176,734 were publicly available on the platform.
CDD said: “The fact that some Senatorial and Federal House of Representatives elections were uploaded also fueled rumours of vote manipulation. Despite optimism from both INEC and citizens that technology could be a game changer in Nigeria’s elections, the way the technology was deployed during results transmission in particular has arguably weakened the public perception of transparency and accountability, rather than strengthened it.”
Nonetheless, CDD applauded the turnout of Nigerians, especially the youth despite well-documented instances of insecurity in all six geopolitical zones, and the fuel and currency scarcity that threatened to derail the electoral process. It however noted that the election suggested that ethnic identity remains an important factor shaping voter preference, with the youth not a monolithic block.
The report further noted that while vote buying has reduced, the incidents of voter inducements remained in the election.
“This election also saw an increased use of basic foodstuffs, household goods and materials being exchanged for votes, with observers in states such as Kwara, Imo and Bayelsa all reporting numerous incidents. In Lagos, there was even evidence of politicians willing to provide bank transfers to voters under the guise of “business assistance schemes”, ostensibly a creative way to buy voters given the limitations on the availability of cash,” the report noted.
On intimidation of voters, the report indicated that many of such cases were linked to identity or political party affiliation. These cases of voter intimidation were reported by 3.4 percent of observers, especially in the northwest, south-south and southeast.
On the extent of disinformation during the polls, CDD said there was a rise of synthetic and manipulated media images doctored to push certain narratives against candidates, just as videos were presented out of context to misinform the voting public. Similarly, the CDD report called for thorough Investigations into voting day violence, and those involved in voter suppression and vote buying.
On the need for effective crisis communications within INEC, the think tank, CDD recommended that the Commission should have a dedicated and prompt page for communicating updated decisions or positions around election-day. CDD noted that a more robust stress testing of IReV is needed to avoid its malfunction undermining the forthcoming governorship process, more than it strengthens transparency around it.
“Effective collaboration between INEC and the judiciary in properly adjudicating complaints concerning the election process will be crucial to avoid significant instances of candidates being ‘elected’ by the courts, rather than by the electorate.
“Political parties must take more seriously their commitments to peace laid out in the National Peace Accord by reigning in thugs acting at their direction.
“Social media companies need to expand their ability to respond promptly to falsehoods circulating on their platform, particularly on and immediately after election day. There should be improved collaboration with recognised fact-checking platforms to allow for quick response and action,” the report said.
“Ahead of future elections, interpretations of the constitution as they relate to the requirements for a presidential winner to be declared or prospective run-off candidates to be selected should be clarified to reduce the risk of post-election contestation. Security agencies and government must also provide stronger support to INEC, which has to undertake significant logistical operations in a difficult environment, by working to address prevailing insecurity and ensuring that INEC has the financial resources at its disposal in sufficient time,” the report noted.
According to the report, an independent post-election review by a group of civil society organisations that observed the election, alongside representatives from legal bodies, should be constituted to provide a report and recommendations on a way forward for continued improvement in the management of elections and the operational deployment required and the role for INEC and other key stakeholders.
