Group tasks INEC on electoral misconduct

The Forum of Registered Political Parties (FRPP) Edo State chapter has stressed the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put measures in place aimed at criminalising vote-buying and other issues hindering smooth management of elections in the country.

In a statement yesterday in Benin City by its chairman and secretary, Comrades Ogba Victor and Jide Ibrahim, the group described the plethora of electoral offences since 1999 as a manifest error in the nation’s political space.

It called on INEC to set up and deploy effective machinery to monitor and ensure that guidelines on campaign funds and expenditure incurred by political parties during elections are strictly complied with.

FRPP frowned on the de-registration of political parties by the electoral umpire, adding that the exception of two political parties, including the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) which attained prominence during the 2019 presidential elections, amounted to a “miscarriage of justice on the part of INEC.”
“INEC should grant a moratorium or a period of grace ranging from between three and five years to all political parties to prove if they could win at lease a seat in any election conducted or have the stipulated percentage of votes cast in election(s); or on the contrary, be de-registered thereafter.”“The present provisions in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) also provide for other grounds on which political parties can be de-registered,” the group added.