Unic Press UK: The European Union Election Observation Mission Nigeria 2019 has released its final report on the General Election 2019, describing the election as one marked by “severe operational and transparency shortcomings, electoral security problems, and low turnout.”
The election observation mission also berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for performing poorly; and chastised the security agents and the Nigerian government for being unable to arrest widespread violence and intimidation of voters in most states of the Republic.
“The election became increasingly marred by violence and intimidation. This harmed the integrity of the electoral process… During collation of the federal results, EU observers directly witnessed or received reports of intimidation of INEC officials in 20 states. During the 23 March supplementary elections, the EU observers saw groups of men with weapons intimidating and obstructing the process, and the security agents were ineffective at protecting citizens right to vote,” the report issued last week reads.
In the report, the EU team called for a “fundamental reform” to address the systemic failings in the Election 2019, including:
- Comprehensive legal regulation for the cancellation of voting in polling units.
- Full results transparency, with data easily available to the public.
- Improving the system of delivering permanent voter cards.
- Strengthen the legal requirement for integrity and transparency in party primaries.
- Strengthen transparency and accountability in campaign funding.
