Learn from Liberia’s election, review ballot papers, Yiaga tells INEC

Called by Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja

Liberia elections.Photo” Yiaga Africa

Wants N’Assembly to make e-transmission of results mandatory

Yiaga Africa has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to emulate conduct of the just concluded Liberian elections.

The organisation, specifically, asked INEC to review the format of ballot papers used in Nigeria’s elections by including photographs and names of candidates, to improve quality of electoral preferences and reduce invalidated votes.

It also urged the National Assembly to strengthen the electoral law by making electronic transmission of results mandatory, including upload of polling unit-level results and results sheets used at different levels of collation

This was contained in a preliminary finding of the 2023 Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM) to the October 10, Liberia 2023 general election deployed by Yiaga Africa from October 7-13.

The delegation was led by a former Commissioner for Political Affairs at the African Union Commission and former Nigerian Ambassador to Guinea, Aisha Abdullahi.

Presenting the report in Abuja, yesterday, Abdullahi and the Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said the mission observed commitment to transparency on the part of the Liberian electoral commission in managing the tallying process.

The mission noted that the Liberian National Elections Commission (NEC) displayed high devotion to rules and procedures throughout the polls, and that officials showed excellent knowledge of rules and enforced guidelines at all levels.

It said: “The format of the ballot papers provides multiple options for indicating a preferred choice. The NEC guidelines require voters to make a mark on the image of the candidate, party logo or square box on the ballot paper, corresponding to the candidate of their choice. This format improved voters’ understanding of electoral preference, reducing the incidence of invalid votes.”

Other members of the mission include Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Prince Bayo Balogun; Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Asmau Maikudi; former Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC, Toyin Akinniyi; Vice President, Africa at Luminate, Ezenwa Nwagwu; Chair, Partners for Electoral Reform and Yiaga Africa board member, Francis Madugu, among others.