He European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EUEOM) presented its final report on the latest Nigerian general elections on Tuesday outlining six priority areas.
The mission’s Chief of Observation, Barry Andrews, presented the report, which has 25 recommendations, at a press conference in Abuja.
Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), conducted presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, while gubernatorial and state assembly elections were held on March 18. .
On April 15, by-elections were held in some electoral districts in the country.
EUUE
The EU EOM carried out its work between January 11 and April 11 at the invitation of INEC.
A delegation from the European Parliament joined the EU EOM to observe the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The mission accredited a total of 110 observers from 25 EU Member States, plus Norway, Switzerland and Canada.
Introducing the report, Mr. Andrews said: “We are particularly concerned about the need for reform in six areas that we have identified as priority recommendations and believe that, if implemented, they could contribute to improving the conduct of elections.”
Areas, he said, include removing ambiguities in the law; establish a publicly accountable selection process for INEC members, and ensure publication and real-time access to election results.
Others are providing greater protection for media professionals, addressing discrimination against women in political life, and tackling impunity for electoral offences.
While the latest elections showed Nigerians’ commitment to democracy, they also exposed long-standing systemic weaknesses and therefore point to the need for further legal and operational reforms to improve transparency, inclusiveness and accountability, Andrews noted.
He added that deficiencies in the electoral law and administration hampered the holding of inclusive and well-run elections and damaged trust in the INEC.
He stated that political will is crucial to achieve best democratic practices in Nigeria and that the EU stands ready to support Nigeria in implementing his recommendations.
priority recommendations
He also made some recommendations.
Elimination of ambiguities in the law: Protecting the interests of voters through the certainty of the law in all stages and aspects of the electoral processes by eliminating errors and ambiguities in the electoral law and regulations to avoid possible conflicting interpretations, and ensuring that review processes are inclusive.
Establish a publicly accountable selection process for INEC members: establish a strong operating framework for the independence, integrity and efficiency of the electoral administration through an inclusive and publicly accountable mechanism to select candidates for INEC and REC commissioner positions based on clear criteria of evaluation of merits, qualifications and proven non-partisanship.
Guarantee the publication and real-time access to the electoral results: protect the free expression of the voter’s will and the integrity of the elections by establishing a robust, transparent and easily verifiable results processing system with clear rules. These include uploading voting unit results only from the voting unit and in real time, at each level of the match results forms to be uploaded in real time, and all forms to be published in a database format. data easy to track and dispose of.
Provide greater protection for media professionals: Provide adequate protection for freedom of expression by developing a comprehensive operational framework backed by the skills and means to ensure prompt investigation and prosecution of all types of attacks against media professionals. the media.
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Address discrimination against women in political life: Take urgent and strong affirmative action to ensure meaningful representation of women through special measures in line with the Beijing principles and the National Gender Policy to increase the representation of women as candidates and in elected positions, with the additional support of intensified and sustained sectoral capacity-building and awareness-raising to eliminate discrimination.
Address impunity for electoral crimes: Address impunity for electoral crimes through robust, well-defined, and effective inter-institutional coordination, governed by clear rules on impartiality, optimization of resources, effective investigation and punishment, and provision of periodic public information. consolidated. information about the results.
Survey credibility
In the presidential elections, perhaps the most competitive in recent history, Bola Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), emerged as the winner. He was sworn in as president on May 29.
The election is being contested in court by the other two candidates: Peter Obi of the Labor Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Similarly, the exercise is being questioned by some candidates at the subnational level.