Yiaga Africa has requested that the National Assembly change the Electoral Act of 2022 to include a provision that would make early voting available for persons who provide critical services.
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As a result of their trip to Liberia to observe the poll, this has come to pass.
They submitted a petition to the National Assembly requesting that the required electronic transmission of results be implemented.
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In addition, the body recommended that the uploading of results from polling stations and the usage of results sheets at various levels of results collation should be done electronically.
Yiaga Africa recommended that the law be changed so that photographs of all candidates running for office be required to be submitted with their election materials.
Speaking at a press conference to unveil its report on the Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM) to the Liberia 2023 General Elections, titled: “Liberia 2023 Elections and Lessons for Nigeria,” the executive director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, stated 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.
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“INEC should evaluate the format of ballot papers used in Nigeria elections to incorporate images and names of candidates in order to increase the quality of electoral preferences and lower the number of votes that are counted as invalid.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and state electoral commissions should commit to increase transparency in the administration of elections by making proactive disclosures of election information and applying election rules and procedures in a uniform manner.
“The National Assembly and INEC should alter the electoral legal framework (Electoral Act and INEC Guidelines) to introduce early voting in order to allow eligible voters who are performing critical election activities, such as security officers, INEC officials, election observers, journalists, etc., to vote during elections. This would require an amendment to the Electoral Act and the INEC Guidelines.
“The National Assembly should conduct a review of the Electoral Act in order to address the ambiguities in the process of results collation and transmission, as well as the function that technology plays in the value chain of results management.
According to Itodo, “the National Assembly should strengthen the electoral law to make electronic transmission of results mandatory,” which would include the uploading of polling unit-level results and results sheets used at different stages of results collation. “Electoral law should be strengthened to make mandatory electronic transmission of results,” Itodo stated.