The European Union (EU), at the weekend denied that, it favoured a particular candidate above the other in the 2015 Presidential election in Nigeria.
Former Chief Observer of the 2015 EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and member of the European Parliament, Santiago Fisas, who stated this while responding to questions from journalists on his assessment of the 2015 general elections, explained that the Mission was more interested in deepening democracy and electoral process than who emerged as the President.
Fisas, also commended former President Goodluck Jonathan for sacrifing his personal ambition for the interest of the people.
According to him, “The international community is not in favour of any candidate. The election was done in a proper way and I praise former President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting the defeat. I think it has proved that he is a man of the state, that he put the interest of Nigeria before his own interest.
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“That is an example in Nigeria and for many countries in Africa to follow, he accepted that he lost election to another party.”
Fisas said the mission was in Nigeria to assess the current electoral reform process and the extent to which previous EU Election Observation Mission recommendations have been addressed.
He also commended the National Assembly for the progress made so far in constitution and electoral amendment.
Fisas also urged the Federal Government to expedite action on pending electoral reform amendment process, noting that “for election reform to be effective, amendments need to be adopted as soon as possible.”
He further added that there is need for the implementation to start well before 2019 general election.
Fisas harped that an inclusive, transparent and credible election, will enjoy public and political confidence, which according to him is crucial for Nigeria’s democracy.
While the mission commended INEC for what it described as its increasing initiatives, including an improved continuous voter registration and the merging of accreditation and voting process for off-cycle elections, it identified areas of failures it said requires urgent attention.
The areas include, provisions empowering INEC to sanction campaign violations, increase transparency in the publication of results and reinforce policies to better integrate women and youth into political life.
“We know to run for election in Nigeria is quite expensive. We also know that campaign is costly so I believe that political parties should help women in campaigning and it is very important to promote the participation of women in politics from the local election.
“Security is important and the people must be free to go to vote. It is important that Nigeria merge the accreditation and voting at the same moment, this is important for the comfort of people. People would go in the morning accredit then go in the afternoon for voting, it is a security risk. It is better not to have people together at the same moments, of course security,” he added.
He also advised political parties to ensure internal democracy by ensuring that their primaries are done in a democratic way, adding that, “It is important to know the background of the candidates and be sure they are the right people to run for election.”
LAIDE AKINBOADE-ORIERE, Abuja
