American Institute faults INEC on BVAS, deployment of voting materials

American Institute faults INEC on BVAS which frustrated high turnout

By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor

Americas Empowerment Institute (AEMPIN) has expressed disappointment with the slow deployment of election materials in more than half of the 176,606 polling units across Nigeria for the presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections on February 25.

AEMPIN, which has observed 59 elections in about 27 countries, said reports by over 2,000 election observers deployed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) commended the high turnout of voters.

AEMPIN Head of Observer Mission Emenike Umesi, however, criticised the relocation of voters’ polling units at the eleventh hour, which was meant to reduce crowd in polling units but was done at the wrong time.

“All polling units were supposed to open at 8am. We observed delays in the opening of some of the polling units due to late arrival of materials and INEC [Independent National Electoral Commission] officials.

“In some polling units, voters started arriving as early as 7am,” Umesi said in Abuja.

“This shows the level of enthusiasm about the election among the voters and their willingness to do all they can to ensure the polling was successful.

“INEC’s decision to further split existing polling units which registered voters exceeded the number recommended is highly commendable. It allowed for easy management of voters and efficiency in terms of the time it takes to accredit a voter.

“As commendable as this is, some of the voters could not easily locate their new polling units either because they did not receive such communication from INEC, or they were simply unaware.”

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Failure of logistics time and again

“Logistics failure has become perennial. In fact, one of the most persistent challenges INEC has not been able to address is the deployment of officials and materials to the various polling units across the country. This has made election administration difficult over time and even now,” Umesi said, per Vanguard.

“This logistics failure is also responsible for the postponement of some elections to the next day. This also affected the collation and transmission of results from the polling units to the local, state and national collation centres. It also includes the delay this logistics challenge causes and the anxiety the delays usually give rise to.

“With the BVAS, it was thought that electoral violence/malpractice was over in Nigeria. Despite this innovative device that seeks to ensure that electoral malpractice is eliminated from Nigeria’s electoral system, electoral violence/malpractices persisted.

“There were also observed incidences of ballot box snatching and destruction. The swift response of the security forces saved the situations in most of the areas where this happened. There were no visible incidents of vote buying in most of the units where we observed the election.”

Umesi cautioned aggrieved parties against violence and urged them to explore the Electoral Act which empowers the INEC to review the results it announces.

He advised the INEC to consider People With Disabilities (PWDs) when selecting the location of polling units and to improve on logistics as well as adhere to the time scheduled for electoral processes.

He also stressed the need for the government to adopt e-voting or i-voting to reduce the challenges of ballot snatching and mutilation of result sheets.