By Tina Amanda
The People’s Advocate, in collaboration with Anpez and CIEPD’s I-Report Situation Room, has released a critical report on the conduct of the Rivers State Local Government Elections, calling for significant reforms to ensure future polls are free, fair, and credible.
The report, based on observations from 76 field observers, praised the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for conducting the election in a challenging political climate but underscored the need for improvements in several key areas.
Courage Nsirimovu, Coordinator of The People’s Advocates, while speaking on the reports for the just concluded Rivers State LGA election, identified some systemic flaws and key observations.
According to him, democracy is a government of the people, not a government of the government, by the government, and for the government.
“Absence of Result Sheets: At Phalga LGA, D.Line Ward 1 Units 8,9,10, Ward 4 Units 48, 49, 50, 51 Ogbunabali Ward 3, Ward 2, Oroworukwu Ward 9 Units 5,6,7,8,9 etc The absence of Result sheet undermined the credibility of the process because Agents of Labour Party and other interested Political Parties asked for Result Sheets and moved to stop the polls if the Result Sheets weren’t produced.
“This systemic flop of RSIEC affected the credibility of the polls and risked the life of the Ad-hoc staff.
“The Manual Voting process of RSIEC and use of incident form is archaic and prone to manipulations. Electronic Voting and transmission of results is the best way to go in order to have credible free and fair elections wherein the votes of the electorates or voters will truly count. Early closure of polls disenfranchised some electorates.
“Materials did not arrive in time or at all in some polling Units and cubicles were not used for secret balloting. The implication is that such open balloting may sway the votes of electorates who may suffer reprisal attacks if they don’t vote for a particular party or candidate.
“Our Situation observed that the process did not create any solid internal mechanism for grievance or dissent before the results were announced. Such a pattern may encourage violence or discourage genuine candidates who have legitimate complaints. Irregularities in some polling units should be addressed before results are announced.
“This is to avoid announcing results in polling Units where elections did not hold or where the election was fraught with fraud, snatching of ballot materials, violence, etc., and some of such incidents were witnessed in this election and the candidates affected would be left with the only option of going to court.
This is a systemic flaw, capable of occasioning injustice.
“Our observers were lost as to where your Ward and State Collation should take place and who is allowed into your “holy sanctuary” to witness the collation and how you arrived at your results. closed collation process is prone to manipulations and should be avoided. Cumulated Results should be fact-checked with polling unit results for credibility. The truth is that the entire election lacks credibility.
“The phone contacts of Electoral officers in-charge of L.G.A’s and wards were not given to observers, as such when an incident occurs, observers are lost as to who to contact to respond to such incident(s).
“The entire process is skewed to favor the candidate or party of the Government in power. If the Government of the day was in a good relationship with PDP, PDP would have won the entire seats. Such pattern stiffens fair competition and churns out unpopular or incompetent leaders who may just be enjoying political patronage or settlement.”
The report recommends as follows: “Provision of Result Sheets, to ensure that result sheets are available in all polling units to safeguard the credibility of the process and protect the safety of ad-hoc staff.
“Amend Rivers State electoral laws to adopt electronic voting for more accurate and fair elections. Use of voting cubicles in all polling units for secret balloting to protect voters from intimidation.
“Implement a robust grievance mechanism to address irregularities before announcing election results, encouraging fair competition. Open the collation process to all parties and observers, ensuring transparency and credibility in the results.
“Ensure ad-hoc staff are properly trained and adhere to official closing times for polling stations. Create a level playing field for all candidates, ensuring that elections reflect the will of the people, rather than being dominated by political patronage.”
They further called for a comprehensive review of the electoral process to restore public trust and ensure that future elections in Rivers State are conducted with fairness and integrity.
