THE Centre For Democracy And Development (CDD) has given its preliminary report on the ongoing Anambra election, saying that there has been high level of vote-buying in 21 local government areas in the state.
Director of Research at CDD Sa’eed Husaini said this in a statement in Abuja on Saturday while briefing journalists on the group’s initial findings on the election.
“We have also noted widespread incidents of vote-buying that will likely negatively impact the credibility of the election result. CDD observers reported numerous not-so-discreet cases of ‘see-and-buy’ in pollings units across the 21 LGAs of the state.
“In many reported cases, police officers have been alleged to have looked the other way, likely as a result of having themselves been compromised.”
According to the group, the trend of vote-buying cut across party lines and had been an increasing feature of Nigerian elections.
The organisation said it required more concerted remedial efforts by INEC and other critical stakeholders to curb the trend.
On security, the CDD said despite concerns over the heavy deployment of security agents, very few incidents of intimidation and violence had been reported, defying the context of fear and uncertainty before the election day.
The group pointed out the widespread incidents of the failure of the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) across numerous polling units and said it had affected the smooth conduct of the elections.
The group said it would likely disenfranchise some intended voters.
“The lateness of officials in commencing accreditation and polling has left many voters frustrated, necessitating INEC’s extension of the voting period till 4pm.”
The group implored voters to remain calm and, where possible, monitor the outcome of the polls up to the announcement of the results and called on political parties to stay calm and do nothing to compromise the integrity of the election.
A reporter with the ICIR
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