EU’s Final Report on The April 2007 Elections
donne4real | September 12, 2007
Below is the EU’s final report on the April Elections as reported in the Punch Newspapers. It also contains some recommendations.
EU’s final report on April 2007 elections
By EU Election Observer Mission
Published: Wednesday, 12 Sep 2007No detailed breakdown of polling station results was published to enable an independent audit to be undertaken from the polling station level to the national level. No figures were published for basic matters such as votes cast or rejected ballot papers. While a few EU observer teams had a good working relationship with some INEC offices (Sokoto, Kano, Borno States) and received copies of official result forms at that level, INEC offices, particularly in states where major problems had occurred, were far less forthcoming and observers had no access to result form copies.
As a result of the irregularities and organisational shortcomings, including the failure to print and provide the correct ballot papers for several elections, INEC had to re-run 111 out of 1,496 elections in 28 states on 28 April 2007. Only in FCT, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Osun, Rivers and Yobe States were no re-run elections held. These elections included the gubernatorial elections in the whole of Imo State and in four LGAs of Enugu State, 15 senatorial elections, 43 House of Representatives elections and 53 State Assembly elections.
B: Results
According to the results announced by INEC by the time the EOM departed on 7 May 2007, PDP won 70 per cent of the presidential election vote, 28 governorships, 86 senatorial seats out of 109 and 169 House of Representatives seats out of the announced 247. ANPP won 19 per cent of the presidential election vote, 5 governorships, 15 senatorial seats, 49 House of Representative seats. AC received 7 per cent of the presidential election vote, 1 governorship, 6 senatorial seats and 26 House of Representative seats. PPA won 2 governorships, 1 senatorial seat and 3 House of Representatives seats. According to these figures, PDP secured a two thirds majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, 79 per cent in the Senate and 68 per cent in the House of Representatives after 249 announced results. Further, PDP won the governorships of Sokoto, Jigawa and Kebbi states from ANPP and Anambra State from APGA but lost the governorship in Bauchi State to ANPP, and the governorships in Imo and Abia states to PPA.
XVII. Recommendations
The following recommendations to improve the framework and conduct of elections process as well as related areas are offered for consideration and action by the Nigerian authorities, other election stakeholders and international community.
Implement clear and effective guidelines for voting, counting, collation and the publication of results
(1). The Electoral Act should be amended to provide more detailed provisions for voting, counting and collation procedures. These should include: (i) a requirement for results to be publicly displayed at polling stations immediately after counting has been completed; (ii) a requirement for copies of official result forms to be distributed to all involved stakeholders, including political parties, candidates and observers. (iii) a requirement for detailed results broken down to polling station level to be publicly displayed at all superior levels of the election administration; (iv) a requirement for INEC to swiftly and publicly display, including on its website, detailed results of the elections, including all polling station results as well as collated information on the number of voters, votes cast, invalid votes etc. (v) a requirement for results to be officially announced within a time limit of three days; (vi) a requirement for voters, political parties and observers to be able to request a recount of ballots at polling station level when irregularities have been identified; (vii) a requirement for INEC to be able to order a recount of ballots at polling station level if it is established that the law was violated; and (viii) provision of clear grounds and authority to INEC to annul election results.
2. INEC should publish detailed results of the 2007 elections broken down to polling station level on its website and publicly display these results at INEC offices so that an independent audit can be undertaken to trace polling station result from the polling station level through to the final aggregated results. Create confidence in the capacity, transparency and impartiality of the election administration.
3. The Constitution should be amended to introduce a transparent, inclusive and accountable system for the nomination and appointment of INEC Commissioners and RECs which ensures the confidence of election stakeholders.
4. All other electoral management officials at each level of the electoral administration, should be recruited transparently through public job vacancy advertisements free from political interference.
5. In accordance with the Electoral Act 2006, the federal government should swiftly establish a fund of sufficient size to ensure INEC’s financial independence. INEC’s financial accounts should be thoroughly audited by a private audit firm to deter and detect financial misconduct.
6. INEC meetings should be open to political parties and accredited observers. Agendas, minutes of its meetings and decisions should be published on its website in a timely manner.
7. INEC should hold regular consultative meetings at national, state and local level with political parties and civil society organisations. This should include forums with the participation of security agencies.
8. Adequate funds should be provided to INEC to enable it to represent itself in the Courts of Law.
9. INEC should use its Electoral Institute to establish a permanent pool of well-trained and qualified electoral trainers to undertake continuous training of INEC staff.
10. INEC should develop and adhere to a well-thought-through logistics and operational plan which guarantees the timely and accurate delivery and retrieval of polling materials to enable polling stations to open on time.
11. INEC should ensure that there is a clear information flow from Headquarters to lower levels of the election administration.
12. INEC should develop and use suitable hand-over documentation for sensitive polling materials (result forms, ballot boxes, ballot papers).
Adhere to international and regional conventions and standards
13. Consideration should be given to amending the Constitution or complementing the national legal framework, in order to ensure full adherence to the principles of political rights and freedoms related to elections contained in declarations, conventions, protocols and other instruments adopted by the UN, AU, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth.
Establish effective mechanisms to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the Election Law
14. The relevant authorities must immediately end the continuing atmosphere of impunity that prevails with regard to election offences by prosecuting and holding accountable those responsible for electoral offences, including those of a criminal nature.
15. INEC should ensure its staff are fully aware of the importance of electoral offences being prosecuted.
16. Financing regulations established by the Electoral Act 2006 should be fully enforced by INEC. Following the submission of annual financing returns by political parties, INEC should produce an audit report on the returns which should be made public.
17. The requirement to submit a financial report on campaign expenditures should be enforced.
18. Reasonable and appropriate campaign expenditure limits should be established for political parties.
19. Infringement of laws and regulations concerning the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns should be subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. Greater steps should be made by INEC and the relevant prosecuting authorities to initiate criminal proceedings for serious violations.
20. The code of conduct for political parties should be strengthened and INEC should be given the authority to address infringements vigorously. Improve the voter register
21. As a matter of urgency, INEC should start work to improve the current voter register, removing double registration, under age entries, entries without pictures and other shortcomings. This should be undertaken with a view to ensuring public and political confidence at all stages of the process.
22. There should be a comprehensive public verification period of the voter register in good time prior to the local government elections to provide eligible voters with the opportunity to transfer their registration, scrutinise the voter register for false entries and register for the first time.
23. After the public verification period, INEC should undertake all necessary corrections and again display the voter register at voter registration centre levels. Permanent voter registration cards should be issued once the process has been concluded well in advance of the local government elections.
24. INEC should ensure that each polling station has a manageable number of registered voters – at most 750 – to avoid congestion and delays on polling days.
25. Political parties should be provided with copies of the voter register in a timely manner and, in order to ensure accountability and transparency, a full breakdown of figures should be published.
Constituency delineation review
26. In line with the Constitution, INEC should conduct a sound, transparent and inclusive constituency delineation exercise based on the 2006 census in good time before the next elections to uphold the principle of equal suffrage.
27. An accurate list of polling stations, including locations and the number of registered voters, should be made available to political parties and observers in a timely manner. Improve the procedure for candidate registration.
28. The responsibilities of INEC and the judiciary in the process of candidate nomination and disqualification should be clearly outlined in the Electoral Act.
29. The Electoral Act should be amended to ensure that persons cannot be excluded from standing for election by unreasonable or discriminatory requirements such as level of education.
30. The legal provision which prevents independent candidates from contesting elections should be removed.
31. Indictment as a ground for disqualification should be reviewed in the light of potential for abuse and victimisation of political opponents. Appropriate checks and balances should be introduced to prevent such political victimisation.
32. The Electoral Act 2006 should be amended to stipulate the number of signatures required to be nominated as a candidate.
Address executive immunity
33. The scope of immunity provisions that apply to the President and Vice-President should be reviewed with the aim of removing blanket immunity. Improve civic and voter education
34. INEC should undertake intensive grassroots civic and voter education jointly with civil society and faith based organisations to create awareness amongst the people about democratic principles and their rights and role in the electoral process.
Prevent abuse of state resources
35. The Electoral Act should be amended to include more detailed regulations prohibiting the abuse of state resources during an election period.
36. Effective measures should be developed and implemented to monitor abuse of state resources and ensure that perpetrators are held to account.
Tags: elections, EU, Nigerian Government
