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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Inter Advisory Council (IPAC), has said it was time for Africa’s electoral bodies to reverse democratic downturn, in a bid to sanitize and entrench a healthy system.
IPAC National Chairman, Yabagi Yusuf Sani, stated this yesterday after he led a team of Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the Liberia 2023 General Elections.
He said the visit was necessitated by the Chairperson of National Electoral Commission of Liberia an IPAC delegation in its first EOM outside Nigeria.
Sani said: “One of the reasons why IPAC embarked on this Election Monitoring Mission to Liberia is the urgency to sensitize and mobilize Africa Election management bodies to begin to work assiduously towards reversing democratic downturn in Africa.
“The current democratic reality in Africa has made it incumbent on electoral commissions to rededicate themselves to credible election results in order to recover public trust in democracy IPAC EOM was particularly impressed with the preliminary results announced by the NEC which shows the turnout for the election at over 70%.
“We believe this impressive turnout was driven by a sense of patriotism and citizens’ commitment to a national purpose which was attested to by our interactions with the citizens before and during the election.
Program of action IPAC is going to embark upon in the days ahead are: Collaboration with other Nigeria Political stakeholders to engender in our people a firm commitment to democracy and nation-building by upholding national
values such as patriotism, integrity and public interest in electoral politics.
“Partnering with INEC to undertake a comprehensive audit of the voter register to eliminate duplications, multiple registrants and ineligible voters to improve the integrity of the voter register.
“Working with the National Assembly and INEC to amend the electoral legal framework (Electoral Act and INEC Guidelines) to introduce early voting to allow eligible voters on essential election duties, such as security personnel, INEC staff, election observers, journalists, etc., to vote at elections
“Work with the National Assembly to review the Electoral Act to address the ambiguities in the results collation and transmission process and the role of technology in the results management value chain.
“Ensure that the National Assembly strengthen the electoral law to make electronic transmission of results
mandatory, including the upload of polling unit-level results and results sheets used at different levels of
results collation.
“Mobilize the citizenry to be vigilant with the National Assembly to ensure our elected representatives hold firm commitment to democracy and nation-building by upholding national values such as patriotism, integrity and public interest in law making and electoral politics.”
