The Joint Election Observation Mission (JEOM) of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), have stated that the Presidential and National Assembly Polls held on the 25th February, was disappointing and did not meet expectations of Nigerians....CONTINUE READING
The two institutes made up of 40-member delegation led by former president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, noted that logistic challenges and other incidents of political violence overwhelmed the electoral process as well as prevented great number of voters from exercising their civic duties.
According to punchng.com, JEOM said at the close of the poll, electronic transmission of results and their upload to the public portal in a timely manner was another issue that undermined the confidence of Nigerians on the electoral process.
Poor communication and lack of transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about their cause and the confusion it created eroded the trust of voters.
These combined effect disenfranchised Nigerian voters in many areas, however, the scope and scale is not known.
IRI and NDI said it deployed its team to the six geopolitical zones to observe all the stages of the voting process.
It saluted Nigerians for displaying commitment to the democratic process despite the challenges.
The delegation called on stakeholders, especially INEC, government, political actors and civil society to increase their efforts to deliver to meet the expectation of Nigerians for transparent and inclusive elections and ensure that the voting process were credible expression of the voters’ decision.
