Amend 2022 Electoral Act – Yiaga Africa tells National Assembly

Yiaga Africa has petitioned the National Assembly to change the Electoral Act of 2022 so that public servants can cast their ballots early.

This comes after they returned from Liberia, where they had gone to observe elections.

They demanded that the Congress mandate the use of electronic reporting of election outcomes.

The body also emphasised the importance of electronically transmitting results from polling units and results sheets used at various levels of results collation.

In addition, Yiaga Africa suggested that the law be changed so that photographs of all candidates running in elections are required.

Yiaga Africa’s executive director Samson Itodo, speaking at a press conference to unveil its report on the Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM) to the Liberia 2023 General Elections, titled: “Liberia 2023 Elections and Lessons for Nigeria,” urged political stakeholders to show their dedication to democracy and nation-building by upholding national values like patriotism, integrity, and public interest in electoral politics.

In order to increase the accuracy of electoral preferences and decrease invalidated votes, INEC should reevaluate the type of ballot papers used in Nigeria elections by include images and names of candidates.

Greater transparency in election management is called for, and INEC and state electoral commissions should pledge to do so through the proactive release of election data and the uniform implementation of norms and regulations.

Early voting should be implemented by the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral and Boundaries Commission (INEC) to ensure that qualified voters on critical election tasks (such as security officers, INEC workers, election observers, journalists, etc.) are able to cast their ballots.

To clarify the role of technology in the results management value chain and the process of collating and transmitting results, the National Assembly should conduct a review of the Electoral Act.

Itodo argued that the National Assembly should make electronic transmission of results mandatory by passing a statute that would require the uploading of polling unit-level results and results sheets used at different levels of results collation.