The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to the 2019 general elections in Nigeria has said that the elections in Nigeria were marked by severe operational and transparency shortcomings, violence that claimed about 150 lives and low turnout.
Head of the EU EOM to Nigeria, Maria Arena, disclosed this during the presentation of the EU final report on the elections in a press conference in Abuja on Saturday. She said that the mission concluded that the systemic failings seen in the elections, and the relatively low levels of voter participation, show the need for fundamental electoral Reforms.
“Such reforms needs political leadership that is dedicated to the rights of Nigerian citizens, and an inclusive process of national dialogue involving state institutions, parties, civil Society and the media,” Arena said. She added that “This needs to be urgently undertaken to allow time for debate, legislative changes and implementation well in advance of the next election.”
The EU noted however, that the elections were competitive, saying that parties were able to campaign and civil society enhanced accountability. Leading parties, the EU EOM said, were at fault in not reining in acts of violence and intimidation by their supporters, and abuse of incumbency at federal and state levels.
The EU EOM’s report stated that, except for federal radio, state media primarily served the interests of the president or the governor at state level. Journalists were subject to harassment, and scrutiny of the electoral process was at times compromised with some independent observers being obstructed in their work, including by security agencies.
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The EU EOM noted that INEC worked in a difficult environment and made some improvements, such as simplifying voting procedures. However, “considerable weaknesses remained. Operational deficiencies led to the postponement of the elections, there were insufficient checks and transparency in the results process, as well as a general lack of public communication and information.
“The elections became increasingly marred by violence and intimidation, with the role of the security agencies becoming more contentious as the process progressed. The EU EOM reported that this damaged the integrity of the electoral process and may deter future participation. During collation of the federal results, EU observers directly witnessed or received reports of intimidation of INEC officials in 20 states,” the report said.
Elaborating further on the violence, Deputy Head of the EU Mission, Hannah Roberts said that the EU Mission recorded about 150 deaths during the elections which she said was not definitive but obtained through cross referencing from media reports and EU observers in various places.
The reports said that while the legal framework broadly provides for democratic elections and some improvements were made to the Constitution, various legal shortcomings remained, including in relation to the use of smart card readers. The EU EOM also noted the suspension of the chief justice by the president a few weeks before the elections, which it said was seen to lack due process and reportedly undermined judicial independence.
Other issues highlighted in the report include: conflicting and late rulings on electoral disputes that undermined opportunity for remedy and created uncertainty; the dysfunctional regulation of political finance; very few electoral offences resulting in arrest or prosecution; problems with the collection of permanent voter cards; and the further fall in the number of women elected.
Positively, however, the report noted that parties and candidates were able to campaign, with freedoms of assembly, expression and movement largely respected. The EU EOM also
emphasised the effective role played by civil society organisations in promoting election
reform and positively contributing to the accountability of the process.
The report makes 30 recommendations for consideration, but prioritises the following seven: Strengthen INEC procedures for the collation of results to improve integrity and confidence in electoral outcomes; Establish requirements in law for full results transparency, with data easily accessible to the public; Considerably strengthen INEC’s organisational and operational capacity, as well as its Internal communication.
Other high priority recommendation include; The inter-agency body responsible for electoral security to work more transparently; And inclusively, with regular consultations with political parties and civil society; Introduce a legal requirement for political parties to have a minimum representation of women among candidates; Electoral tribunals to also cover pre-election cases in order to improve access to remedy and to avoid petitions being taken to different courts at the same time and Reform the licensing system for the broadcast media to provide for media pluralism and diversity in all of Nigeria’s states.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
