Inconclusive Elections: Civil society groups intervene on public awareness

Some Nigerians have expressed concern over the inconclusive elections in some states, the most recent experience being that of Rivers State.A civil society group – Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG), recently held a round table conference between the media and relevant bodies, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), civil society groups and other stakeholder to unravel the myth behind the phrase ‘inclusive election’ and fashion ways to forestall future occurrences, even as another round of governorship elections beckon.
  
Welcoming participants, Executive Director, ISDMG, Dr. Chima Amadi, noted that the term ‘inconclusive election’ was fast becoming a mantra in the nation’s electoral process. 
 
He however maintained that while the issue of logistics might be taken care of administratively, instances of unleashing of violence, killing and adoption of people, as well as, stealing of electoral materials should not be rewarded through declaration of results and announcement of winners.

He added that as long as the law remains the way it is and elections remain competitive – a situation where every vote counts and every vote is counted, successful candidates will most likely only win marginally.

“For this reason, disruptions by way of violence, intimidation and bribery of poll officials and voters, the spectre of inconclusive elections is likely to hang over our process.

“But where there are no such disruptions or distortions by the political class, inconclusive elections will be eliminated, except for elections into the office of governor or President where no candidate meets the Constitutional criteria or in a case of natural disaster or other emergency.”

Exploring the Past: An Independent Observer’s Perspective was the title of the paper presented by Ezenwa Nwagwu. He decried the fact that the political class has failed to learn from the experience of the military interregnum.

Nwagwu further described the new phrase – ‘inconclusive elections’ as disingenuous push-back of a distraught and losing political class, from the improvement recorded in the electoral process, especially given the innovations introduced to check the antics of the politicians.