Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Wednesday said the use of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s result viewing portal is increasing transparency in elections.
This was disclosed by Clement
Nwankwo, Convener of the coalition of civil society organizations at the
group’s review of the Ondo and Edo governorship elections in Abuja.
Nwankwo said that INEC had
taken some lessons to improve the electoral process, adding that situation room
was really quite pleased with the elections conducted in Edo and Ondo recently.
”It was good to see results
being uploaded in no time in the result viewing portal.
“I think when you do have
that it increases transparency; so, we will urge INEC to continue to move in
that direction.
“There are conversations on
increased use of electronic system in elections for voting and so on; this is
helpful and I think we need to improve on it.”
Nwankwo said that the police
force was very impressive in the way its men conducted themselves during the
elections and expresses hope that they continue to improve on their performance
during elections.
Situation room commended
INEC on the peaceful conduct of Edo and Ondo states governorship elections as
there were high level of improvement in logistics, staff deployment, security
conduct and use of smart card readers.
Prof. Mohammed Kuna, Special
Assistant to the INEC Chairman, said that what was slightly different in the
Edo and Ondo elections was that the commission did an election project plan.
According to Kuna, usually
the election project plan is done only during general elections and not for
off-circle elections.
He said that what that meant
was that the entire project the commission wanted to implement during the Edo
and Ondo elections were mapped out and responsibilities were shared.
He said that logistics
arrangement for the elections in terms of recruitment, training and deployment
was done meticulously, adding that there was no case of people declining to work
at the dying minute.
Dr Rufus Akeju, the Resident
Electoral Commissioner for Ondo, said that the election was a success, even
though 5,000 smart card readers were burnt.
Dr Johnson Alalibo, the Edo
Resident Electoral Commissioner, said the election in the state was an
improvement on previous ones.
Alalibo said that there was
the need for INEC to deepen its use of electronic in elections to give the
electoral process more credibility.
Prof. Anthonia Simbine,
National Commissioner INEC, commended civil society organisations for the role
they played in Edo and Ondo elections.
Simbine said that a part of
the commission’s success was due to the pressure CSOs put on INEC to do better
noting that security agents were very supportive in the process as they showed
professionalism.
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