SIXTH
Pre-Election Press Statement: VOTERS AND STAKEHOLDERS NEED TO SYNERGISE TO
ERADICATE ELECTION RIGGING IN THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Thursday 21st
February, 2019 10am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Many
voters and stakeholders are making concerted efforts to ensure that they fully
participate in the rescheduled 2019 polls, with the presidential and national assembly
elections set for Saturday 23rd February 2019. Citizens, political
parties, accredited observers, media, religious and traditional institutions amongst
others have all expressed a strong desire for credible elections. However
credibility of elections is not the exclusive preserve of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) and/or security agencies. Citizens also have a role
to play.
For
any election to be truly free and fair, the citizens must be willing to expose
all acts of rigging to the appropriate authorities. Fortunately, the Nigeria Police
Force (NPF) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have published
contact details of their offices and senior personnel across the country for
citizens to make easy contact. It is now important for voters to take advantage
of these platforms and ensure that every act of election rigging is exposed and
handled by the appropriate authorities.
It
is for this reason that Election Monitor has researched some common rigging
techniques and also proffered solutions as to how they can be mitigated. It is
our opinion that when voters understand more about how election riggers operate
they can spot their activities easier and raise the alarm whenever required.
Election
Monitor believes that if citizens do their part effectively as well as the various
institutions concerned, election rigging would become a thing of the past.
God
bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed
Abiodun
Ajijola
National
Coordinator
7 ELECTION RIGGING
TECHNIQUES AND HOW TO PREVENT THEM
1. Ballot Box stuffing
This is basically where
more ballots are placed in the ballot box than the actual number of voters who
came to vote. To achieve this the number of accredited voters has to be
increased to accommodate for the additional ballot papers placed into the ballot
box. If this is done carelessly it would lead to a case of overvoting which
would result in the cancellation of election in the entire polling unit. This
technique has gone on the decline since the introduction of the smart card
readers in the 2015 General Elections because of the challenge of
indiscriminately increasing accreditation figures. An example of this is during a recent election
when a ballot box was stuffed right in the presence of polling officials at the
polling unit. Most voters were not aware of the situation because some party
loyalists formed a barricade over the ballot box as this was being done.
Remedy
·
The key is for political party agents and
voters to watch the ballot boxes and papers closely and raise an alarm to
security agencies where they see the any attempt to stuff the ballot boxes. Voters and party agents
must insist that ballot boxes are placed in an open space and not taken to any
location out of the public glare throughout the conduct of the election.
2. Buying
and selling of votes on Election Day
This is the exchange of
money for votes on election day. This has been practiced for a very long time
in Nigerian elections, however the trend has reached stupendous proportions
which takes away freeness and fairness from elections. This form of rigging was
generally on the rise in most off-cycle governorship elections post the 2015
General Elections. For vote buying on election day to be effective the voter
must be able to prove to the buyer that he/she has voted for the buyer’s
candidate/party. In addition in most cases, the payment is in cash at a
reasonable distance from the polling units usually not in the immediate
vicinity. There are however some very outrageous situations where the cash has actually been paid within the polling unit.
Remedy
There is no one way to stop the buying and the selling
of votes. However the following will help to significantly reduce the scourge:
·
Ensuring
secrecy of the ballot – here the polling unit is laid out in such a way as to
make it impossible for any person (including polling officials) to know the way
a candidate votes. Significant attempts were made to achieve this in the 2018
Osun State Governorship Election.
·
Punitive
measures for offenders – the Electoral Act clearly provides for buying and
selling of votes as an electoral offence. The security agencies must up their
game to ensure that more and more offenders are brought to book. This would
also serve as a deterrent to others.
·
Increased
voter education – There is a need to consistently increase the education of
voters that they should not engage in this activity as it has both moral and
legal implications for the voters who engage in it.
·
Stakeholder
consensus – There is a need for stakeholders to agree that buying and selling
of votes is not an acceptable election practice and would not be condoned by
anyone.
·
Media
campaign – There needs to a sustained public media campaign against the buying
and selling of votes.
·
Citizen
action – Voters must be willing to expose those purchasing votes on election
day and expose locations where the actual payments are made to law enforcement
agents who are on duty.
3. Purchasing of permanent voter cards
before elections
Many
people believe that the only reason why politicians purchase PVCs before
elections is to somehow use them to influence accreditation. This is an arduous
task with the smart card reader.
However purchasing of PVCs before elections could be for the purpose of
disenfranchising voters from the opponent of a candidate during the election.
If for example PVCs are massively purchased in an area that heavily favours a
particular candidate such an area would witness significant reduction in voter
turnout on election day because such voters would not be able to vote. This
would directly affect the votes received by the candidate if he or she is the
dominant name in such a location. Purchase or rental of PVCs
Is usually a transaction carried out by a politician and the voters. The
politician purchases the voter cards using his/her political structure which
has willing foot soldiers at the grassroots that will approach and offer voters
cash.
Remedy
·
Increased
voter education to discourage the activity.
·
Arrests
of perpetuators.
·
Sting
operations to catch offenders.
4. Intentional voiding of votes
In voting, a ballot is considered spoilt,
spoiled, void, null, informal,
invalid, rejected or stray if a law
declares or an election authority determines that it is invalid and thus not
included in the vote count. This may occur accidentally or deliberately. The
total number of voided votes in an
election may sometimes be called the residual
vote (USA). In Australia, such votes are generally referred to as informal votes, and in Canada they are
referred to as rejected votes. In
Nigeria, the terms voided and rejected
are commonly used to refer to such votes.
Voter instructions are usually intended to
minimize the accidental spoiling of votes. Ballot design can aid or inhibit
clarity in an election, resulting in less or more accidental spoiling. Some election officials have
discretion to include ballots where the strict criteria for acceptability are
not met but the voter's intention is clear.
Intentionally spoiling a ballot before or
during tabulation of election results is an electoral fraud. One way that has been observed that this
can be done is by getting access to a ballot paper which has been legitimately
thumbprinted for a particular candidate and voiding it by using an object,
handkerchief, cotton wool, piece of cloth or even a human finger to make
another thumbprint on the paper. Certainly two finger prints on the same ballot
for two different parties would certainly void the ballot. Where this happens, it is most likely to
result in a very significant increase in the rejected vote rate for the constituency
where the election has just been held compared to previous elections in the
same constituency.
Intentional voiding of votes is more likely
to occur because it is much more difficult to stuff ballot boxes with the
advent of the smart card readers in Nigerian elections. In order to avoid
overvoting ballot boxes cannot be stuffed beyond the accredited voters which
are limited by the card reader. As a result it is more lucrative to reduce the
votes of an opponent to ensure the victory of the perpetrator candidate in the
polling unit.
Remedy
The following can be done to check this.
·
Party
agents (non-beneficiary) must carefully watch ballot boxes where votes are
placed in and ensure that at no time are these ballot boxes taken away or out
of public glare for any reason during the election. Citizens at polling units
must also ensure they keep an eye on the ballot boxes as well.
·
While
sorting is going on, non-beneficiary party agents must ensure that they closely
watch all the rejected votes and raise concerns with the polling officials
where they observe any ballot paper which may appear to be intentionally
voided.
·
All
party agents should not only track the votes received by candidates but also
the rejected votes as well.
5. Intentionally get elections cancelled in
certain areas
It is common knowledge
that an election may be cancelled in any location where there are circumstances
that prevent the election from holding and/or being concluded. For example
violence is one of the leading causes of cancellation of elections in polling
units in Nigeria. Other possible reasons include but are not limited to:
overvoting (where more votes are cast than those who were accredited), non-use
of the smart card reader for accreditation (i.e. manual accreditation),
hijacking or theft of election materials required to conduct elections (e.g.
ballot papers, ballot boxes, results sheets (form EC 8 A) etc) amongst others.
From these, it is clear that
cancellations are critical and could have a significant effect on whether an
election is concluded on the first ballot or not.
The reason why some
unscrupulous persons may want to create cancellations in a particular location
is primarily to disenfranchise voters
in that location. This in most cases always has a well calculated outcome and
hence can be seen as a form of rigging.
For example, political
thugs may invade a polling area and disrupt the election conduct in such a way
that the election cannot be concluded in that particular location again. In
this scenario it is possible that the polling unit is located in an area of
strength to a particular politician. Disrupting the election in such a location
would have direct adverse impact on the politician who holds sway in such a
location.
Ballot papers scattered on the floor during a recent election by political thugs
Remedy
Generally
citizens and political parties can ensure that they watch the proceedings at
the polling unit circumspectly to ensure that there is no interference or
action which could lead to election being cancelled in the polling unit.
In
some cases such as the 2016 Bayelsa Governorship Re-run election, youths in
some communities started moving from one polling unit to another to prevent the
thugs that were indiscriminately damaging the ballot boxes and throwing the
content on the ground. While this was effective as it drove away the
miscreants, it is a form of taking laws into their own hands which must not be
encouraged. The import of this is that the security agents should actually
ensure that political thugs do not disrupt the polling areas. However when the
security agencies choose to be partisan, the resultant effect is that citizens
may choose to protect their votes themselves which could lead to chaos and
general break down of law and order. The security personnel must maintain
strict neutrality at all times during the elections.
Youths in Amassoma looking for political thugs during the 2016 Bayelsa State Governorship Election Re-run
d
6.
Interference/manipulation of election results collation
One
of the most critical aspects of the Election Day process is the collation of
results. Election results from the polling units are collated first at the ward
or registration area (RA) before being forwarded to the local government area
(LGA) before the final collation at the state collation centre (governorship
election). However in a presidential election collation ends at the National
Collation Centre in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.
Each
political party fielding a candidate during any election is entitled to a copy
of the results at all levels. The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) does this for transparency of the Election Day process especially
collation. However many political parties do not take advantage of these
results provided by INEC to develop their own custom built internal collation
system. It is critical that political parties make optimum use of the copies of
the official results provided for them by INEC to ensure that they carefully
and thoroughly monitor the election collation results process to ensure that
they are satisfied with the process. However in order for this to be effective
party agents need to be present at ALL 119,973 polling units and 57,023 voting
points across the country.
Remedy
One
of the best ways to combat rigging in collation of election results is for the
political parties to embrace technology and ensure they track the election
results as they are released from the polling units to the final collation
point.
Election
Monitor has developed innovative and first of its kind mobile and web
applications for quick and effective internal collation of election results by
political parties. Having such a system would ensure that political parties are
able to compare their own collation with that of the electoral management body.
Where there are discrepancies the parties through their representatives could
make the observations to the collation officials to ensure optimum accuracy of
the collation process.
Such
mobile and web applications would
strengthen the capacities of political parties during elections as well as
ensure greater transparency in the electoral process. It would also bring
greater acceptability to final results released because parties can attest to
their veracity. In addition there would be fewer if any allegations which
cannot be founded which in turn will reduce tension and ensure smoother
election conduct. Ultimately this will increase the propensity for peaceful
elections.
7.
Voter intimidation
Voter
intimidation may be defined as any concerted effort or practice by an
individual or group on behalf of a party or candidate to coerce the voting
behavior of a particular class or demographic of voters.
This
is one of the crudest forms of rigging because it usually involves violence and
brute force and breaks every known tenet of what democratic elections should
be. Unfortunately voter intimidation as a rigging strategy has been recorded in some elections in the past. Sadly voter intimidation happens not only in main elections but
even political primary elections as well.
Voter
intimidation is probably amongst the top two current greatest threats to free,
fair and credible elections conduct in Nigeria. In some cases certain voters
would be given symbols (e.g. white handkerchief) which would enable them access
the polling units while others would be prevented from gaining access to the
polling stations.
Remedy
The
major issue here is voter education and instilling the democratic rights of
each voter on the general citizenry. By doing this citizens will reject any
attempt by anyone to intimidate them irrespective of the situation.
It
is also important to put pressure on security agencies to be non-partisan as
well. It is important for citizens to endeavour to capture as many incidences
of voter intimidation as possible and put them on the social media to create
awareness of the situation in real time.
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