INEC Urged to Engage Professional Bodies for Credible Elections

Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

The Abuja School of Social and Political Theory (ASSPT) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to engage as many professionals as possible to guarantee credible elections come next month.

The institution has also announced that as part of its commitment to ensuring the credible management of the 2023 general elections, it has established 2023 Election Observatory to monitor, analyze and prescribe solutions to the issues that will affect the credibility and fairness of 2023 elections.

The Director of ASSPT, Dr. Sam Amadi, in a press conference held in Abuja yesterday, explained that the “objective of the observatory is to offer an independent analysis of the challenges of free and fair election and help INEC in its preparations towards the 2023 general elections.”

Amadi said: “The most important aspect of the electoral process is not the actual voting, but actions taken by the electoral management body to make voting free and fair.”

He explained that the institution will not engage “in election monitoring but rather in observing and analyzing the processes and procedures that guarantee fairness and credibility of voting and declaration of results”.

According to the former Special Adviser to the President of the Senate, who commended  INEC for some of its decisions that have reinforced faith in its determination and capability to effectively manage the electoral processes, “We understand that the logistics could be overwhelming for the institutions. But this election is a crucial one and its competitiveness requires more transparency and accountability than in the past.

He said: “We want to commend INEC for the decision to use its staff to conduct the election rather than academics outside its control. By establishing a committee of its senior management and taking ownership of the process, INEC is proving that it is learning from the failures of the past and is determined to conduct more efficient and reliable elections in 2023.

“This decision underlines a recognition of the needs to standardize the procedures and processes of the elections”

He explained, however that “the success of such a system is on having multiple parties that can compete fairly and thereby providing options against political domination.”

“We urge the commission to continue to factor the interest and challenges faced by the less established parties in managing its deadlines.”