Electoral College Nigeria Highlights Areas For Electoral Reform

The Electoral College Nigeria has released a statement emphasizing its focus on the electoral process rather than the outcome of the recently concluded presidential, national, governorship, and state house of assembly elections.

According to the group’s Executive Director, Kunle Lawal, the group believes that the cost of elections is high and would propose the reconsideration of e-elections in 2027. Furthermore, the Electoral College believes that future elections should be staggered to improve security and involve fewer university staff as officers.

The statement also highlighted the group’s efforts to promote political literacy in Nigeria, running a twenty-seven-course module that has educated over ten thousand Nigerians virtually, with classes physically held in states and using radio.

The Electoral College also reviewed the electoral cycle from the primaries and noted that none of the eighteen registered political parties met the Electoral Act 2022 criteria, which states that manual and physical copies of the list of members of political parties must be submitted to INEC before conventions and primaries can be conducted.

The Electoral College observed that the mode of emergence in 57% of primaries can be questioned based on the emergence of candidates, which is against the Electoral Act 2022. In addition, the campaigns by all eighteen political parties were marred with nepotism, religious undertones, and other parameters that are abhorred by the Electoral Act.

The group expressed an interest in understanding the interpretation of the Electoral Act 95 (2), which says that state apparatus, including media, shall not be applied to the advantage of any candidate or its disadvantage, as it refers to the case of an appointed executive serving as a campaign spokesman.

The Electoral College’s statement acknowledged some improvements in the electoral process while recognizing the challenges faced during the 2023 elections. The group urged for a reconsideration of e-elections in 2027 to reduce the cost of elections and emphasized its efforts to promote political literacy in Nigeria. The group also called for a better interpretation of the Electoral Act and noted some violations during the primaries and campaigns of the 2023 elections