THE European Union Election Observation Mission (EU OM) said despite the fact that presidential and parliamentary elections were held as scheduled, there were considerable operational failures which have dampened trust in the process, and denied many citizens the right to vote.

EU chief observer Barry Andrews, stated this while presenting the preliminary findings of the Mission in Abuja on Monday.

He said although stakeholders had expressed confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the preparatory phase leading to the election, the Commission’s lack of efficient planning in critical stages and effective public communication reduced trust in the process, including on election day.

Read Also:

• EU observer mission: Elections in Nigeria marked by “serious operational challenges”
• Presidential election results so far… APC leads PDP four states to one
• US congressman says Nigerian election results being tampered with
  

  ---

Andrews commended the patience and resilience displayed by Nigerians on election day in the face of delays in the deployment of election materials and late commencement of accreditation and voting in many polling units observed.

“The introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) were perceived as an important step to ensure the integrity and credibility of the elections.

“However, uploading of the results using the BVAS did not work as expected and the presidential election results forms started to appear on the portal very late on election day, raising concerns,” he said.

Responding to a question on whether perpetrators of election violence would be placed on a ban, Andrews pointed that it was not within the mandate of the Mission to determine if a ban would be imposed or not.

“We acknowledge that INEC had to conduct this election under urgent circumstances and we are very conscious that the electoral act provides the framework that instilled a lot of trust in INEC in the run up to the election.

“We are here simply to observe…that’s a matter for the European Union in the European Council. We are aware that other jurisdictions have made those calls but it doesn’t fall within the mandate of this mission,” he clarified.

Similarly, the head of delegation of the European Parliament Evin Incir, noted that less than 10 per cent of candidates were women and urged the next government and parliament to heed the call for affirmative action for women electoral participation.

On their part, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) Joint Election Observation Mission (IEOM), noted that the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections in the country fell short of citizens’ expectations.

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda, who presented the preliminary report on election on behalf of the IEOM, called on the international community to punish anyone that undermines Nigeria’s election.

There are 110 election observers from the EU member- states as well as Canada, Norway and Switzerland, present in Nigeria to monitor the election process.