Situation Room delivers damning report on 2019 polls, says election not free, fair & credible

A damning report has been delivered on the 2019 general elections in Nigeria by Civil Society group, Situation Room.

While presenting its report on the 2019 elections on Tuesday, the civil society organisation said the last polls in Nigeria failed to meet the “threshold for free, fair and credible elections.”

In the words of Clement Nwankwo, Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, “The 2019 general elections did not meet the threshold for free, fair and credible elections.

The civil society organization, which was one of the accredited election monitors, also noted that there were discrepancies in the number of accredited voters and the total number of votes cast.

According to Nwankwo; “There were differences between the number of accredited voters and the total number of votes cast in many Polling Units. The Independent National Electoral Commission operations fell short of its identified role.

“Military involvement in the 2019 general elections were outside of the limits allowed by law.

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“There are questions about the role played by the executive as well as other state institutions, such as the military and the security services and their negative effect on the credibility of the elections in Nigeria.”

Part of the report read, “With the relative success achieved in the 2015 general elections, the Nigerian electorate was hopeful that a standard had been set, below which future elections should not fall. The 2019 elections were, therefore, supposed to be a consolidation of the gains made in 2015. Instead of this happening, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room’s observation of the 2019 general elections reveal serious shortcomings that questioned the credibility of the exercise.

“To help define a common expectation from the elections, Situation Room issued a Threshold Document for a Credible Election,1 which stipulated minimum requirements for credible elections in 2019, drawing from local and international frameworks. These requirements border on the following issues: Non- Partisan Security Agencies, Voter Register Integrity, Card Reader Failure during elections, Transparent results collation, efficient and accountable election Administration, Political parties, No restrictions on opposition campaigns and violence mitigation and electoral accountability.

“These standards were grouped under obligations to be fulfilled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the political parties, the security agencies and other state institutions. From the lapses noted during the observation of the 2019 general elections, it is the conclusion of the Situation Room that the elections failed to meet the threshold for a credible election.

“This poses serious questions about the future of elections in Nigeria and quality of democracy in Nigeria. On a positive note, it was an election in which citizens were determined and mobilised to exercise their votes including excluded groups such as women, persons with disabilities (PWDs), young people, etc. This positive excitement was however truncated by the unexpected postponement of elections from the initial dates set,” the report added.

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