By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
As Nigerians still wait on the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the winner of the 2023 Presidential Election, the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM), on Monday pointed to some lapses it observed during last Saturday’s exercise which it said tainted its credibility, including avoidable glitches associated with the process.
In a preliminary report the body released on the conduct of the polls, which also saw the election of candidates for the National Assembly (NASS) the body expressed concern over the late commencement of voting in 83 percent of the polling units it monitored.
According to AUEOM: “The average delay was over an hour. In some cases, they opened as late as 11:00 am. This was largely due to the late arrival of polling officials and materials and the slow set-up of the polling units,” the body said, calling for the review of the electoral logistics operations strategy to ensure timely deployment of electoral material and personnel and sufficient capacity building.”
The Mission, who also faulted the unbalanced allocation of voters per Polling Unit, said that the disparity in the spread of the electorate strained electoral officials.
“This had several implications on the process including straining some polling staff who had to manage large numbers of voters.
“Furthermore, this disparity of voter allocation affects optimal utilisation of INEC resources particularly in polling units with minimal voters.”
“While the body commended INEC over the deployment of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS), it added that there was limited number of devices that affected the smooth conduct of the process.
“The Mission commends the innovation of using BVAS technology to accredit voters. This enhanced the credibility of the process. In 94% of the polling units visited, the BVAS functioned successfully. In some cases, the Mission observed that the process was delayed due to the limited number of BVAS compared to the large number of voters allocated to a polling unit which created frustrations among the voters who had to wait longer in the queues.
“The mission advises regulation of the number of BVAS machines deployed at each polling unit to match the allocation of voters per unit”, the statement said.
