A coalition of international election observers says Nigeria’s election held last Saturday throughout was compromised by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Joint Election Observation Mission (JEOM) in its official gazette released on Monday in Abuja blamed the INEC for failure to uphold transparency in the conduct of the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections throughout the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The coalition consisting of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and led by Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi, said the INEC compromised the electoral process.
While congratulating the people of Nigeria for their resilience and enthusiasm to participate in the process, Bandai said despite long waits, the large crowds in some polling stations demonstrated the commitment by Nigerian voters to participate in the process and a strong desire to have their voices heard.
To enable them have a first hand experience about the entire exercise, the foreign election observation group said 40 of its members were deployed across all the six geo-political zones of the country to observe the voting process.
They said that despite the clamours for reforms to the electoral process through the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, “Nigerians were mostly not impressed by the conduct of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
“Logistical challenges and multiple incidents of political violence overshadowed the electoral process and impeded a substantial number of voters from participating in the elecrions,” the coalition said in its official statement.
“Ongoing currency and fuel shortages also imposed excessive burdens on voters and election officials, while Nigerian marginalised groups, especially women, continued to face barriers to seeking and obtaining political office,” the group said.
Identifying the challenges, the election observers said its members observed that the late commencement of polling exercise across the country and logistical failures.
These problem, the group said, created tensions, adding that the secrecy of the ballot was compromised in some polling units given overcrowding.
They group observed that “at the close of the polls, challenges with the electronic transfer of results and their upload to a public portal in a timely manner also marred the process, and undermined citizens’ confidence at a crucial moment of the voting.
“Moreover, inadequate communication and lack of transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about their cause and extent created confusion and eroded voters’ trust in the process,” the coalition said.
“The combined effect of these problems disenfranchised Nigerian voters in many areas, although the scope and scale are currently unknown,” the group said
The foreign observation team, however, commended Nigerians, who they said, once again demonstrated their commitment to the democratic process, “despite these challenges, and displayed extraordinary resilience and resolve to have their voices heard through the ballot.
