The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of civil society groups accredited to monitor the Ondo state governorship election has warned political parties and their candidates participating in Saturday’s election against engaging in acts that will undermine the credibility of the election.
It particularly warned the parties to avoid engaging in any form of electoral malpractice, or vote buying as such activities undermine the credibility of the election and can erode public trust in elections.
In a pre-election report, signed by the convener, Yunusa Z. Ya’u and co-conveners, Franklin Oloniju and Mimidoo Achakpa, the situation room expressed concern over the poor voter mobilization and campaigns by political parties ahead of this election.
The Situation Room said this had become a re-occurring issue in every election in the country, especially the trend of candidates and their political parties “stepping down” and endorsing an opponent at the last minute of the election.
It said: “In just 48 hours before the election, there are reports that 3 political parties have stepped down and endorsed one of the major candidates in this election. This calls for an electoral reform that places a greater burden of responsibility and accountability on political parties.”
The group said: “In the build-up to this election, Situation Room embarked on a series of activities and engagements with relevant stakeholders. These included dialogue sessions with the electoral management body, political parties, security agencies and civic groups from Ondo State as well as a governorship debate that provided an opportunity for candidates to answer questions regarding their manifesto, enabling voters to assess the candidates based on communal issues.
“Situation Room notes with some levels of caution and optimism, the generally calm atmosphere pervading the election environment and acknowledges that it vastly differs from the tension-generating environment of past elections in the State.
“Situation Room hopes that this positive trend will endure till the end of the election process and beyond. However, this positive state of affairs does not obviate the existence of pockets of incidents and breakout of low-key political disagreements in the State.
“In particular, Situation Room notes the intolerance shown by supporters of some of the contending parties with regard to the forceful removal and destruction of rivals’ advertising boards and posters. We, therefore, caution against such behaviours of intolerance.
“Given the continuous fall in voter turnout in recent elections, stakeholders should intensify voter education efforts, particularly at the last minute, to combat voter apathy and ensure that citizens understand the importance of their participation in this election.
The group said it is gratifying to note INEC’s promise to learn from the lessons gathered from the Edo election. We hope that INEC will show the willingness and capacity to live up to that promise.
The Situation Room ask the commission to ensure that polling units open on time, as any delay can disenfranchise voters and undermine the credibility of the process, adding that Inefficient logistics, such as election officials arriving late or being misdirected, have hampered previous elections.
INEC, it said must ensure vehicles and personnel are adequately briefed on their routes to avoid delays. INEC should also ensure that materials already deployed to the RACs and Super RACs are moved to the polling units on time.
It said further that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) should function optimally based on the report from the Mock test while INEC must ensure that the trained personnel are readily available to handle technical issues swiftly, ensuring that voters are not disenfranchised due to faulty equipment.
It encourages INEC to ensure that people with disability and other vulnerable persons like pregnant women and the aged are accorded priority attention at polling units and ensure assistive materials are effectively utilized.
In addition, it said INEC must ensure that the collation process is transparent and venues are made accessible to observers and fully lit to avoid the incidents that happened in the Edo election where the collation of results in some wards was done in darkness or relocated to the local government centres. INEC must safeguard the sanctity of the election results at all levels of the collation process.
According to the group, while a high level of security deployment is essential to deter breach of electoral peace, the presence of security forces must not be seen as intimidating to voters, while excessive displays of force can contribute to an atmosphere of fear and suppress voter turnout.
It said: “In past elections, we observed that security deployment has been uneven, with more officers concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural communities under-secured. The deployment must be evenly spread across both urban and rural areas and strategically to prevent possible disruptions.
“The police and other security agencies should maintain impartiality throughout the electoral process. Security lapses in previous elections, despite promises of improved professionalism, have undermined public trust.
“We urge the police to ensure their officers uphold the law without bias, and that electoral activities proceed without any interference from the security agencies.
“We urge security agencies to ensure that officers deployed for the election are provided with adequate transportation and timely welfare to enable them to perform their duties effectively. Relying solely on INEC provisions has been problematic in the past. This must not resurface in this election.
“Adequate security must be provided at all polling units, collation centres, and for the transportation of election materials. We equally call on the security agencies to be vigilant while manning the entry points to polling units to apprehend would-be hoodlums commissioned to disrupt the election process. We insist on transparency during collation, and any form of exclusion of accredited agents and observers must be avoided to ensure trust in the process.”
