THE Heads of the Election Observation Missions of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Africa Union (AU), have called on Nigeria’s political parties and their candidates to settle electoral disputes through peaceful means and dialogue, in accordance with the law.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the coalition noted with concern signs of increasing tensions in the country following the country’s 25th February general elections.
“We remain confident in the strong commitment of the Nigerian government and her people to peace, stability, and development and reaffirm our commitment to accompany the country in advancing these important goals.
“We also urge the security agencies to continue to professionally discharge their duties with utmost respect for the rule of law,” the statement said.
Earlier, the Joint Election Observation Mission (JEOM), involving the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and led by former President of Malawi Joyce Banda, said that logistical challenges and multiple incidents of political violence overshadowed the electoral process and impeded a substantial number of voters from participating.
The coalition added: “Ongoing currency and fuel shortages also imposed excessive burdens on voters and election officials, and Nigerian marginalised groups, especially women, continue to face barriers to seeking and obtaining political office.”
It however, congratulated the people of Nigeria for their resilience and enthusiasm to participate in the process and “a strong desire to have their voices heard”.
In the same vein, 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 dampened trust in the process.
EU chief observer Barry Andrews, also faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for withholding critical information during various stages of the election process and delays in the deployment of election materials to many polling units on election day.
“Public information about key electoral procedures and precise data was not readily available, including the safeguards for the integrity and reliability of the BVAS, the process of collecting PVCs, voter registration updates, and the rationale of court orders changing candidate lists. Publication of such information would have notably enhanced the transparency and certainty of the process,” Andrews said.
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 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.
“In 16 of 37 observed polling units, staff had difficulties understanding and completing results forms. The figures in the results forms did not reconcile in 9 out of 37 of observations. In 24 out of 37 units, the results were not posted publicly and in 22 of 37 units, the form was not uploaded using BVAS,” the EU chief observer added.
Electoral disputes are handled mainly by courts, with ad hoc election tribunals established for results challenges.
The courts are broadly accessible for addressing pre- and post-election disputes, including rights of appeal but enforcement is weak partly due to gaps in law.
As of 23 February, there were at least 1250 pre-election cases, among them at least 600 in the Court of Appeal and at least 80 appealed to the Supreme Court, underlining a highly litigious electoral environment.
The foreign election observation groups of over 150 members deployed across all six geopolitical regions, noted that despite the clamours for reforms to the Electoral Act 2022, Nigerians were mostly not impressed by the conduct of the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections.