The plan to convoke a national stakeholders’ dialogue on the management of the country’s electoral process by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a welcome development. Expected to last two months, the dialogue, slated to involve all stakeholders in the electoral process, would include a critical review of the 2008 Justice Mohammed Uwais’ committee report and the reports of other committees instituted since 1986 on the conduct of elections in the country.
According to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, 17 issues would dominate discussion at the dialogue. They include the number of political parties; mode of party registration; election security; movement and security of personnel and materials; funding; the use of electronic to deepen the electoral process; transmission of election results; electoral framework; and personal conduct of politicians.
The committee will review the Babalakin Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) in 1986; Justice Muhammadu Uwais report on electoral reforms (2008); Lemu Committee on post-election violence (2011) and Ken Nnamani Committee report on constitutional and electoral reforms (2017).
Others include the various administrative reports of INEC; investigation reports by the security agencies (the Nigeria police and the army); independent studies by the Human Rights Commission (2015 and 2017); judgments of the various election petition tribunals; and reports of domestic and international observers.
Also to be reviewed are the records of public hearing for the amendment of the electoral legal framework by the National Assembly and confessional statements by some political actors. We commend the electoral umpire for the initiative and urge the participants to handle the assignment expeditiously. Reviewing the electoral process should be a continuous exercise considering the fact that every election throws up more electoral challenges.
Therefore, the need to improve our elections can hardly be overemphasised. The relentless calls for the improvement of the electoral process in the country might have led to the institution of various committees in the last three decades. But regrettably not much has improved. Let the planned national electoral dialogue be qualitatively different from the previous ones. We agree with the INEC boss that “until we get our electoral process on the right, consistent and progressively positive trajectory, our efforts at nation-building and promoting peace and progress shall remain epileptic.”
However, the burden of electoral management must not be left entirely in the hands of the electoral umpire. We believe that consultations with political parties, security agencies, civil society organisations, the media, development partners, traditional and religious institutions, national and local peace committees and professional groups accredited to observe elections will deepen the nation’s democracy. We hope that the dialogue on elections will significantly improve the electoral system and our electoral outcomes.
The dialogue should include reforms of the electoral constituencies and election district borders; ballot design and voting equipment; election monitoring by candidates and political parties. The intractable problem of proportional representation including citizens’ initiatives and referendums and recall elections must be clearly stated. Vote counting procedures, nomination rules and ballot access must be strengthened. The committee should map out measures that will ensure the safety of voters and election workers.
There should be sanctions against bribery, coercion and other electoral infractions. There is no doubt that the committee will come up with far-reaching recommendations that will improve our electoral system if faithfully implemented. No time is too late to get the national electoral system right. Instructively, the United States of America (USA), which we modeled our democracy after, has continued to innovate in the reform of its electoral systems. For instance, its Electoral College which had vastly transformed the electoral system in the country was not there before.
It is hoped that the envisaged dialogue would lead to a new electoral system that all Nigerians will be proud of. We urge the committee to carry out the assignment with diligence and utmost sense of patriotism.