Obidigwe urges INEC to use clear colours on ballot papers for illiterate voters

By Sunday Ani

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, Chief Chinedu Obidigwe, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure clear and distinct colour differentiation on ballot papers across all categories of elections, warning that a large number of voters in rural communities across Nigeria cannot read and would otherwise struggle to identify their preferred candidates at the polls.

He stressed that the reform was critical to safeguarding the integrity of elections nationwide, given the significant population of unlettered voters in many agrarian and riverine communities across the country.

He said a considerable proportion of the electorate in rural communities nationwide remained unlettered, a reality he insisted INEC must confront, rather than overlook in its electoral planning.

He noted that many of such voters are hardworking farmers, fishermen, and traders, who have never had the opportunity of formal education, and who, consequently, find it difficult to distinguish between parties on the ballot paper when the colours used are too similar or poorly printed.

The APGA candidate warned that this difficulty exposes illiterate voters to manipulation, as they often have to rely on other persons to identify their preferred candidates in the polling booth; a practice he said could easily be exploited to mislead them.

He noted that bold, high-contrast colour coding, clearly distinguishable at a glance, would eliminate this vulnerability and allow every voter to cast their ballot independently and with confidence.

Obidigwe urged INEC to go beyond its current use of party logos and colours, which he described as, sometimes, too faint or too close to one another to be reliably distinguished, particularly given the quality of paper and ink deployed in some rural polling units.

He called on the commission to field-test any new colour scheme directly with illiterate voters ahead of implementation, to confirm that the differences are unmistakable before rolling it out nationwide.

He said he was raising the issue now to give INEC sufficient time to

act before the next election cycle, but pledged that if elected, he would formally engage the commission on the matter and pursue legislative advocacy, where necessary, to make distinct ballot colour differentiation a standard requirement rather than an afterthought.

He maintained that no voter should be disenfranchised on account of

illiteracy, stressing that every Nigerian, literate or not, deserved

the dignity of casting their vote with full confidence in their choice.

“Serious colour differentiation is not too much to ask. It is basic

electoral justice,” he submitted.