Pre-Election Press Statement: March 9Th Governorship, State Houses Of Assembly, Fct Area Council And Nass Supplementary Elections
Pre-Election Press Statement: march 9th governorship, state houses of assembly, FCT Area council and nass supplementary elections
Friday 8th March, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Saturday 9th March 2019, eligible Nigerian voters will once again troop out to cast their ballots in the 2019 Governorship, State Houses of Assembly, FCT Area Council elections. There will be a number of supplementary elections held to conclude some elections outstanding from the February 23rd elections.
Election Monitor has made several observations from the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections which are provided for in its Interim report and Analysis documents.
Election Monitor makes the following recommendations:
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
· INEC should not relax but ensure that all shortcomings from the presidential and NASS elections are addressed to ensure optimal conduct of the March 9th 2019 polls. Polls should open at 8am nationwide.
· Election Monitor commends INEC in its efforts in results collation in the presidential and NASS polls despite the significantly increased number of candidates (73 for the presidential election alone) which resulted in much larger collation sheets that would obviously require much more time to fill out. However efforts need to be made to optimize the collation process. Completion of the collation process by Sunday 10th March 2019 is achievable nationwide for governorship, state houses of assembly, NASS supplementary and FCT area council races.
· There should be no postponement of the March 9th 2019 elections.
· It’s important that polling officials are reminded that all locations which deliberately refuse to use the smart card reader will be scored as zero.
· The regular public briefings by INEC state offices is commendable especially since these are state elections. However, INEC National should consider briefing the press about the nationwide level of its preparations on Friday, 8th March 2019.
· Polling officials should demonstrate how to effectively fold the ballot papers before polling commences and explain that any finger can be used to mark the ballot paper while caution should be exercised to ensure that finger prints don’t exceed the boxes provided.
· Election Monitor commends INEC for opening up the INEC Situation Room which increased transparency of the process. encourages all stakeholders to take advantage of this in the forthcoming elections as INEC has notified that it would once again provide access to this facility.
Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security agencies
· The Police must ensure adequate security provisions for all voters before, during and after the elections.
· Security for all INEC officials (adhoc and regular) is critical and must not be compromised. Security agencies need to ensure that there should be no incidences of INEC officials being assaulted or harassed at any time. Incidences of indiscriminate detention of INEC officials must not be repeated as this also contributed to the delay in election results collation in some locations during the presidential and NASS polls.
· commends the Police for arresting 323 electoral offenders from various parts of the country during the Presidential and NASS elections. However more efforts need to be made to ensure that all election riggers are brought to book for the forthcoming polls.
· Votebuying was still fairly regular in the February 23rd 2019 polls. It is germane for increased efforts to be made to significantly mitigate votebuying in the next elections.
· Security agents need to foil attempts by political thugs to disrupt elections in polling units which would lead to cancellations and disenfranchisement of voters. Cancellations have to be brought to the barest minimum.
· The Police needs to do more to bring to book those who peddle false election results on social media and in some cases reference international observer groups as their source. This is criminal and capable of fueling discontent amongst citizens. There is no record of any accredited international observer group providing alternate election results and indeed this does not lie within their purview.
· Security agencies especially the Police as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should continue publicizing their contact details/hotlines on social media, mainstream media etc.
· Armed security patrols need to improve and accelerate their response times to get to polling units so as to provide unarmed agents effective, sufficient and timely backup to prevent thugs from successfully disrupting elections.
· Security agencies need to ensure effective security at Registration Are Centres (RACs) as well as collation centres and for collation officials and INEC personnel at the various centres while ensuring that INEC authorized/accredited persons are allowed access.
· The Nigeria Police Force, NSCDC, military and other security agencies involved in the March 9th 2019 State elections should ensure professionalism, neutrality and constitutionality in the discharge of their functions.
· Election Monitor commends the Police on its embargo on unauthorised use of unmarked/covered vehicle number plates.
Federal Government
· Election Monitor calls on the Federal Government to consider hosting an Electoral Reform Conference (two or three days) to identify gaps in the electoral process and create lasting solutions to ensure better quality elections in the future. The following key issues should be prioritized:
o The use of technology in future elections.
o Ensuring seamless funding for INEC all through the electoral cycle.
o Effective mitigation of electoral violence.
o Increasing voter participation in elections.
o Improved approach to enhancing the legal framework for elections.
o Addressing the proliferation of political parties while keeping the democratic space open.
o Increasing internal democracy in political parties.
National Assembly
· Election Monitor calls on the National Assembly to make more inputs to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill including more public engagements as a result of new perspectives arising from the conduct of the 2019 General elections. It is recommended that the new bill be transmitted to the President for assent before the end of April 2019.
· notes that the Federal House of Representatives has concluded the second reading of the 2019 Budget while the Senate is yet to commence the first reading. The Senate and indeed the entire National Assembly should ensure timely review and passage of the 2019 Appropriation Bill. The over 4 months which the INEC budget spent with the National Assembly in 2018 should be avoided as this puts strains on the election management body especially as relates to procurement and effective election preparation.
Media
· Media organizations have generally improved the quality of their election coverage which is commendable. However more efforts are required to ensure diverse opinions on critical electoral issues.
· Online media should avoid disseminating unverified information especially as relates to violence and election results.
Political parties
· Parties must refuse to disrupt election conduct using thugs as this does not help the process.
· Political parties must ensure they engage well trained and civil party agents to increase the quality of their observations.
International observer Groups
· Foreign observers need to respond swiftly to misinformation intentionally spread by detractors about their observer missions. Several fictitious election results were flying around the social media before and after the official declaration of results by INEC in the Presidential and NASS polls. Many of these results cited international observer missions as their sources. This is important because some citizens may be taken in by these shenanigans and form opinions not based on the truth.
· International observer groups should consider making their main findings using infographs as well for social media dissemination. There were some cases of people intentionally distorting the conclusions of some foreign observer missions with a view to mislead the public. In some cases this elicited vitriol from other social media users who believed the misinformation. Not all people will take the time to read the foreign observer reports in detail and thus such persons can be easily persuaded by fake news.
Domestic Observer Groups
· Domestic observers are urged to put in their best efforts to ensure effective observation of the March 9 2019 polls.
Election Monitor encourages citizens and all stakeholders to remain peaceful and law abiding before, during and after the elections. Voters should ensure that they turn out to vote.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed
Abiodun Ajijola
National Coordinator
Sumber http://electionmonitorng.blogspot.com
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