2023 election: EU calls for legal operational reforms to enhance transparency

The European Union Election Observation Mission has presented its final report on this year’s general elections.

The Chief Observer, EU EOM, Barry Andrews, made the presentation at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria held its general election on February 25, 2023.

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was declared the winner by INEC, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

Atiku and his counterpart, Obi, did not accept defeat and headed to the court.

At the invitation of the Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria, the EU EOM carried out its work between January 11 and April 11.

A delegation of the European Parliament joined the EU EOM for the observation of the Presidential and National Assembly elections. The mission accredited a total of 110 observers from 25 EU Member States, as well as Norway, Switzerland, and Canada.

In its presentation, Andrews said that in the lead-up to the 2023 general elections, Nigerian citizens demonstrated a clear commitment to the democratic process.

He noted that “the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signalled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.”

The EU EOM noted that shortcomings in the law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in INEC.

With the aim of contributing to the improvement of future elections, the EU EOM offered 23 recommendations for consideration by the Nigerian authorities.

Andrews stated, “We are particularly concerned about the need for reform in six areas which we have identified as priority recommendations and we believe, if implemented, could contribute to improvements for the conduct of elections.”

The six priority recommendations point to the need to; remove ambiguities in the law; establish a publicly accountable selection process for INEC members; ensure real-time publication of and access to election results; provide greater protection for media practitioners; address discrimination against women in political life, and; impunity regarding electoral offences.

The Chief Observer, advised “Importantly, there is a need for political will to achieve improved democratic practices in Nigeria. Inclusive dialogue between all stakeholders on electoral reform remains crucial. The European Union stands ready to support Nigerian stakeholders in the implementation of these recommendations.”

Reacting, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who spoke to journalists after the presentation, said significant improvements in the 2023 elections have been reported thus far by international observers.

Okoye noted the commission is “going to harmonise all the reports by international observers that have been presented and we are going to look at the reports holistically.

“From the report presented, the EU made mention of the fact that there have been significant improvements in our electoral process and there have been so many positives to this particular election.

“One of the positives is that we registered over 93 million Nigerians during this election. Not only that, if you look at the reports submitted by international observers, in terms of voter accreditation, the BVAS performed optimally.”

He, however, admitted that there were challenges, adding that recommendations from international observers would be worked on and implemented.

Okoye added, “But there were also a few challenges and looking at those challenges, one must look at the context and the environment of the election.

“Insecurity was in some parts of the country, which we cannot dispute. Secondly, violence was targeted towards our staff and some Nigerians. Fuel scarcity and naira re-design also were challenges.

“Recommendations have been made on administrative and legal issues and we are going to harvest them and implement them.”

(Punch)