The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Tuesday, July 30 2019 issued its final report on the 2019 general elections, with 20 recommendations to improve Nigeria’s electoral system. The launch of the report had Situation Room members, Civil Society groups, Nigerian and international observers, as well as the media in attendance.
In the report, Situation room stated that the 2019 general elections had several challenges and failed to meet the threshold for a credible election, stating that this poses serious questions about the future of elections and the quality of democracy in Nigeria.
On a positive note however, Situation Room stated that the election was one in which citizens were determined and mobilised to exercise their votes, including marginalized groups such as women, persons with disabilities (PWDs), young people, etc. This positive excitement was truncated by the unexpected postponement of elections from the initial dates set.
Situation Room, a platform of over 70 Nigerian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria, observed the country’s elections to determine if they conform to minimum requirements for a free and fair conduct and has observed all Nigerian elections as a group since 2011. Ahead of the 2019 elections, Situation Room issued an Election Threshold document to help define a common expectation from the elections.
To effectively play the role of an election observation group during the 2019 elections, Situation Room deployed observers to all the country’s six geopolitical zones. On its own, the Situation Room directly deployed about 4,000 field observers, with an additional 20,000 field observers deployed by member and partner-organisations. Situation Room also had observers in 8,809 electoral wards across the country’s 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Many of the lapses that were observed could have been taken care of if the Electoral Act amendment passed by the National Assembly had been signed into law and put into use.
The 2019 general elections saw a record number of 73 political parties contesting for the presidency. While a few of the parties conducted primaries to select their candidates, most failed to conduct transparent primaries, leading to allegations of imposition of candidates.
The Situation Room’s report on the 2019 elections presents the analysis of the various findings in the course of the elections. It has also taken steps to highlight the inconsistencies in the electoral process. It is our reasoned conclusion therefore that the elections did not meet the credibility threshold based on the patterns of abuse of process and the consequent lack of integrity observed.
Some of the recommendations made include the following, among others:
- The Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the National Assembly and declined by the President, should be re-introduced, passed by the National Assembly and transmitted to the President for assent.
- Nigeria’s election continues to be very expensive, the budget for the 2019 elections was 242.4 billion naira. This cost is not sustainable, it is important to open up national conversation on how to achieve sustainable costs for the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
- The Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security should deploy security personnel in line with security risk findings taking into consideration major flashpoints in future elections.
- Situation Room calls for collaboration between election stakeholders and civil society organisations in Nigeria and the international community to help bring to account persons who subvert the electoral process as a result of their actions and activities.