Some civil society organisations (CSOs) monitoring the governorship election in Edo state have requested the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) to invoke its powers beneath the Electoral Act to handle violations within the ongoing collation of outcomes for the ballot.
In a collectively signed assertion on Sunday, the group, together with Civil Society Scenario Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Improvement Initiative, Nigerian Girls Belief Fund, ElectHER, and TAF Africa, expressed worries over studies of disruptions and intimidation at ward and LGA collation centres.
“We, the undersigned accredited civil society organisations observing the 2024 Edo governorship elections, specific concern over the transparency of the continuing outcomes collation by the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC),” the assertion reads.
“Stories of disruptions at ward and native authorities collation centres, together with intimidation of INEC officers and makes an attempt to collate outcomes opposite to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC pointers, increase vital issues concerning the credibility of the outcomes collation course of.”
The group additionally acknowledged INEC’s current assertion relating to studies of consequence manipulation and urged the electoral physique to take swift motion.
The CSOs additional referred to as on INEC to utilise its powers beneath part 65 of the Electoral Act to assessment any outcomes which will have been declared beneath duress or in violation of electoral rules.
“We acknowledge INEC’s current assertion recognizing studies of consequence mutilation and its dedication to research and deal with any confirmed violations,” they added.
The group additionally appealed to safety businesses to take care of neutrality and make sure the security of all events concerned within the collation course of.
“We additional name on safety businesses to chorus from interference within the collation course of and to make sure that accredited occasion brokers, the media, and election observers are granted full entry to collation centres,” they stated.
“The position of safety businesses within the election is to safeguard the method and to not create a scenario that may undermine the transparency of the method and thus negatively affect the credibility of the end result of the election.”
