#NigeriaDecides2023: EU observers say governorship, assembly elections lack transparency

The European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) has said the 18 March governorship and states houses of assembly elections lacked transparency.

The EU-EOM Chief Observer, Barry Andrews, stated this in its preliminary observation report for the elections.

Mr Andrews, however, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) improved on logistics during Saturday’s gubernatorial elections.

“Positively, INEC introduced some corrective measures ahead of Saturday’s polls, allowing a timely delivery of sensitive materials and improved use of election technologies, yet the institution continued to lack transparency,” he said.

He said the EU observers witnessed a widespread voter apathy, which he attributed to the consequence of INEC’s earlier flaws.

Mr Andrews said the mission’s findings revealed that while voting mostly started on time, there were multiple incidents of thuggery and intimidation of voters, polling officials, observers, and journalists, disrupting the process in some parts of the country.

“Throughout the mission we saw that Nigerians have a great appetite for democracy and are keen to engage in various civic activities,” he said. “However, in many parts of the country, their expectations were not met. Many were disappointed and we witnessed voter apathy that is in part a clear consequence of failures by political elites and, unfortunately, also by INEC.”

He also noted that the mission directly observed incidents of vote buying.

“Lagos, Kano, and other states in the southern and central part were most affected,” he said. “Unfortunately, there were many casualties and fatalities. Vote-buying, also directly observed by EU EOM observers, further detracted from an appropriate conduct of the elections.”

Mr Andrews said the underrepresentation of women as candidates in the elections demonstrated a lack of internal party policies to support constitutionally prescribed inclusion, contrary to Nigeria’s international commitments to eradicate discrimination against women.

He also commended the civil society, media and fact-checkers’ commitment to promoting democratic standards, through the provision of electoral information of public interest to voters.

He added that the mission, which has been in Nigeria since 11 January, will continue to observe post election developments and will present and publish its final report, including recommendations for improving the electoral framework in the next few months.

On 27 February, the EU-EOM released the preliminary report for the presidential and National Assembly elections, where it also noted a lack of both efficiency and transparency in the critical stages of the electoral process.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe