The Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth, and Advancement (YIAGA) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take inspiration from Liberia and introduce the use of candidates’ photographs alongside their names on the ballots to facilitate easier identification by voters.
Liberia is presently approaching a second round of voting in a presidential election, with the current incumbent, George Weah, and his rival, Joseph Boakai, in a tight race, as indicated by provisional results released on Tuesday.
These recommendations were part of the initial findings of the 2023 Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM), which was deployed to Liberia from October 7 to 13 by Yiaga Africa.
The delegation was led by Aisha Abdullahi, a former Commissioner for Political Affairs at the African Union Commission and former Nigerian Ambassador to Guinea.
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The delegation emphasized the need to address potential ambiguities in the results collection and transmission process, as well as the role of technology in the results management chain.
It also called upon the National Assembly to review the Electoral Act to address these concerns and ensure a more transparent and reliable electoral process.
The delegation also urged the parliament to enhance electoral legislation by making it mandatory to electronically transmit results, including polling unit-level results and results sheets used at various stages of results collation.
The delegation recommended that “political stakeholders should demonstrate a firm commitment to democracy and nation-building by upholding national values such as patriotism, integrity, and public interest in electoral politics.
“INEC should review the format of ballot papers used in Nigerian elections to include photographs and names of candidates to improve the quality of electoral preferences and reduce invalidated votes.
“INEC should undertake a comprehensive audit of the voter register to eliminate duplications, multiple registrants, and ineligible voters to improve the integrity of the voter register. The audit process should be subjected to an independent citizen review to engender public trust.
“INEC and state electoral commissions should commit to greater transparency in election administration through proactive disclosure of election information and consistent application of election rules and guidelines.
“The National Assembly and INEC should 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.
“The National Assembly should 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.
“The National Assembly should 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.