Observer Group Hails INEC for Care Support to Elderly, Pregnant Women, PWDs During Anambra Guber Poll

By Uche Eke

The Centre For Transparency Advocacy (CTA), an observer group, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for giving priority to the elderly, pregnant women and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) during Anambra governorship election on Saturday.

Prof. Alex Asigbo, CTA Election Experts Team lead said this while giving a report of preliminary findings on the Anambra governorship election in Awka on Saturday after monitoring the process in the 21 Local Government Areas.

Asigbo said CTA observers found out that the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) deployed 100 percent to the polling units, APC 93.8 percent while Labour Party 37 had percent.

“Many of the political parties failed to deploy agents to several polling units, leaving the process largely unmonitored,” he said

Asigbo said the lack of presence of party agents at polling units not only created gaps in transparency but reflected a deeper problem of lack of commitment of politicians to invest in credible electoral practices.

It said INEC officials and materials arrived late in many polling units, resulting in late opening of polls in many polling units with 68 percent of polling units opening 8:25 to 9am, while about 31 percent of the polling units commenced 8:30 and 10:00am.

The group deplored the conditions of some of the vehicles hired for the election and refused which it said refused to pick up other INEC officials to polling units after making their initial drop-off.

“This further contributes to delays.

“Our observers reported that INEC officials in line with the electoral guidelines gave preferences to pregnant women, nursing mothers, PWDs and the elderly.

“ Observation across polling units showed that the BVAS worked well in over 80 percent of the polling units, except for a few cases where some voters were not accredited by BVAS or whose names were not on the register where they presented themselves.

“CTA notes that INEC is yet to resolve its logistics challenge, as earlier highlighted in our pre-election press briefing.

“Despite assurances from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), observers reported that logistics arrangements, including vehicle deployment, were inadequate,” he said.

Asigbo said observers indicated that low turnout may have been influenced by voter apathy, security concerns, and doubts about the credibility of the electoral process as well as lack of interest in the election.

It commended the efficiency of INEC process but deployed what it considered premature conclusion and announcement of election results.

“There were reported cases of Ad hoc staff closing polls and announcing results at 2:19pm as against INEC stipulated time of 2:30pm, an action which may have disenfranchised some eligible voters.

“However, as at 4:48pm, 3, 861 results has been uploaded to iREV, representing 67 percent

“We charged citizens to take civic duty very seriously. INEC and Political parties must also take civil and voter education very seriously to educate citizens.

“CTA commends the citizens for conducting themselves peacefully and in accordance with voting guidelines.

“Political parties and their candidates played a noticeably limited role in strengthening the electoral process during the Anambra election,” he said.