Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Tuesday said that the
2019 general elections in Nigeria failed to meet the “threshold for
free, fair and credible elections.”
The civil society organization, which was one of the accredited
election monitors, said this while presenting its report on the
2019 elections.
According to Clement Nwankwo, Convener, Nigeria Civil Society
Situation Room, “The 2019 general elections did not meet the
threshold for free, fair and credible elections.
He added, “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.
“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.”
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