By John Nwokocha
Abuja
The joint Nigeria International Election Observation Mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) on Tuesday in Abuja, disclosed that the 2019 general elections fell below the expectations of many Nigerians. The indictment was made while the Observation Mission made public its final report on the 2019 general elections.
The election observer mission said that the last-minute postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections on the morning of February 16 and delays in opening some polling units and other administrative challenges on February 23 undermined public confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). According to them, while INEC distributed materials and opened polls in a more timely fashion for the March 9 gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections, many serious irregularities occurred, including vote buying, intimidation of voters and election officials, and election-related violence.
Regional Director, NDI (Central and West Africa), Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, who released the report said that Nigeria witnessed a set back in the 2019 elections in terms of the modest improvements it recorded in previous years.
Fomunyoh in the report, noted that the last general elections in Nigeria “fell significantly short of standards” set in 2015 and shook the confidence of citizens in the electoral process.
The report reads: “Political parties remain the weakest link among Nigeria’s nascent democratic institutions. Opaque candidate nomination process led to violence I done States and many pre-election lawsuits. The paucity of women and youth nominated to run on the tickets of the two major parties, the APC and PDP, demonstrated Nigerian political elites’ lack of commitment .to opening space for new faces and new voices .
“Moreover, political parties and their leaders did not uphold their commitment to peaceful and and credible elections, faint to restrain and hold accountable members and supporters who commited electoral offences”.
Urging stakeholders in the electoral process in Nigeria to take concrete steps to address the concerns of citizens with regards to the polls in order to rekindle their faith in the power and possibility of credible elections, President of the IR I, Dr. Daniel Twining, said the organisation had made a number of recommendations to enhance the credibility of future elections in Nigeria. These included areas of improvement for political party conduct, civic engagement, election security, and legal frameworks around election disputes
Speaking in the same vein, President of the National Democratic Institute, Ambassador Derek Mitchel, said that the 2019 elections has highlighted for many Nigerians the need for a national conversation about the country’s democratization since the 1999 transition to civilian rule.
The international election observers expressed regrets that in previous years, suggestions for improvements of the electoral process in Nigeria in the preceding years by reputable citizens and international observation missions went unheeded.
The observation mission however called for a national dialogue on the electoral process for Nigeria to get its party politics right and conduct free, fair and credible elections.
Also, the report recommended early preparation for elections so as to mitigate against and last minute shortcomings.
