Yiaga Africa has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide an update on the status of elections in polling units across Anambra State, southeast Nigeria, where malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was recorded.
Registered voters in the state went to the polls on 06 November to elect a governor of their choice for the state.
However, there were reports of the failure of BVAS to authenticate voters’ fingerprints and other details. As a result, the electoral umpire extended the voting time till 4:00pm in some polling units to make up for time lost.
‘INEC owes the people of Anambra a duty to take necessary steps to ensure registered voters are not disenfranchised on the basis of technological failures or logistics challenges’, the election observer group said in a statement to Development Diaries.
‘Yiaga Africa urges INEC to provide periodic updates on the status of elections in polling units where the BVAS consistently malfunctioned or where elections did not hold’.
The civil society organisation (CSO), however, commended the people of Anambra State for showing enthusiasm in their turnout. According to Yiaga Africa, INEC owes the people a duty to ensure that registered voters are not disenfranchised.
‘Yiaga Africa commends the people of Anambra for the enthusiasm and resilience demonstrated with the turnout for the elections’, the statement read.
Also, Yiaga Africa commended the professionalism of security operatives during the election, and urged them to investigate reports of hijack of election materials.
‘Yiaga Africa reiterates its call to security agencies to respect human rights and maintain non-partisan dispositions throughout the results collation process’, the statement read.
‘Yiaga Africa further calls on the security agencies to investigate reports of hijack of election materials and prosecute the culprits’.
The CSO said its 500 ‘carefully trained’ observers observed the election in the 21 local government areas (LGAs) that make up the state.
Photo source: INEC
