FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan has said his experience as an election observer across Africa and around the world showed that elections in Ghana, Senegal and Liberia are better than those conducted in Nigeria and some other African nations.
Addressing heads of electoral bodies, civil society groups, politicians, representatives of the European Union, Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and other election actors across West Africa in Abuja, on Tuesday, February 25, Jonathan emphasised the need for political actors to see people’s will as the ultimate in all democratic settings.
Speaking as a guest of honour at the Reflection Conference on Elections in West Africa, convened by Yiaga Africa, Jonathan said West Africa had made significant progress in its democratic journey.
He argued that though there had been disruptions in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which have experienced military putsches, such should not overshadow the fact that democracy thrives in other countries in the sub-region, adding that that the sub-region had transitioned from the dark days of absolute authoritarian rule.
He listed countries namely Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Sierra-Leone, Liberia and Ghana which held elections during the 2023 and 2024 election cycles as those making West Africa proud in democratic governance.
While commenting on the Nigerian elections at the two-day conference, which sought to draw lessons from polls conducted in West Africa between 2023 and 2024, Jonathan said, “Despite the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BIVAS) and the result viewing portal (IReV) to enhance transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the processes experienced logistical issues (namely) delayed voting in some areas, violence and technical glitches with the BIVAS system, resulting in (an) avalanche of litigations.
“Sierra-Leone also introduced new technology, with the use of biometric voter accreditation ahead of its presidential, parliamentary and local council elections in June 2023. However, there were allegations of irregularities, including voter intimidation, ethnic tension and controversial results, which culminated in the opposition’s boycott of governance institutions…They used technology but the problems were not solved.”
He said in December 2024, Ghana conducted presidential and parliamentary polls, which he adjudged to be very successful despite the application of limited technology.
According to him, Ghana, with the reputation of being one of Africa’s most stable democracies, lived up to this billing by conducting peaceful elections and ensuring a smooth transfer of power.
“The Electoral Commission of Ghana and security authorities played a crucial role in ensuring the elections were free, fair and transparent, demonstrating that Ghana’s democratic institutions and processes have continued to be resilient even with limited technology.
“Two other countries, Liberia and Senegal also conducted elections with the deployment of limited technology. In these countries, the processes were generally peaceful, transparent and credible, with a high voter turnout. In the case of Liberia, the incumbent President George Weah conceded defeat to the opposition candidate, Joseph Boakai after a closely contested runoff, setting a positive example of a democratic transition in the region.
“The pre-election in Senegal was notably marked by protests and arrests of opposition figures, and concerns about the independence of the judiciary. However, it was pleasing to observe that once the election process kicked in, the polling process progressed without issues, resulting in a free and fair outcome. I must commend that the election in Senegal, to me, is one of the best I have observed in Africa and a few I have observed outside Africa.
“It is an election with almost zero technology. So, technology per se, we need it, I’ll emphasise that later, but the human factor is more important than the technology.”
Jonathan opined that while the deployment of technology could be used to make polls transparent and advance democracy, it could also be used to undermine this system of government when humans manipulate the process.
The former leader recalled that in the past in Nigeria, there were no voter registers or any such documents that could help identify people of voting age. Despite this, he said election results were acceptable and democracy thrived.
He then went on to share his experience when he lost his bid to win re-election in the 2015 presidential election “When Jega was there, he introduced the card reader, but during the election, the card reader rejected me and almost set the country ablaze because the card reader rejected me, my wife and mother. Now, we’ve migrated above the card reader to the BIVAS which is supposed to be more advanced than the card reader but the problems are more than when we used the card reader.
“While we are progressing in terms of technologies, the outcome is retrogressing. This is not what we expect today.”
He challenged electoral bodies in the sub-region to ensure that only real and living humans are on their electoral registers. He also called for an impartial judiciary in adjudicating election disputes.
Some of his recommendations include an independent and impartial electoral commission, non-partisan security institutions and officers, periodic review of electoral laws, tolerance among parties and other stakeholders in the election process, and making national interests outweigh personal and regional interests.
He also questioned the level of independence of electoral bodies across West Africa.
Meanwhile, in his paper titled “Democratic Elections in West Africa: Challenges and Prospects,” the former INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, who was the keynote speaker at the conference, gave the evolution, disruptions and transitions that democracy has witnessed in West Africa.
He listed such challenges to include desperate politicians, political interference in the appointment (and/or removal) of heads of electoral bodies; intimidation/targeting of electoral officials to ensure desired outcomes; introduction of rules that enable fraud or manipulation of polls; and withholding of funds and other resources from electoral operations.
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said the conference was convened to reflect on key lessons from elections observed in the West Africa sub-region by his organisation in the past two years.
He said the discussions at the conference would provide useful information that would support elections scheduled for this year in the sub-region.
He explained that the conference was designed to discuss six key issues namely election administration, the role of technology, disinformation, electoral justice, and implications of elections for governance.
