Kaduna (Kaduna State) – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been urged to start preparations for 2019 electoral process to avoid recurrence of challenges encountered during the 2015 general elections.
Participants at a workshop organized by Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD) made the call at a workshop in Kaduna on Monday.
According to them, late preparation almost hampered the last elections but resulted in postponement that almost led the nation to chaos.
They said until INEC maked the issue of 2019 a priority, Nigeria may as well face some avoidable problems as it was during the last elections.
They identified low level of sensitization by INEC, poor distribution of Permanent Voter Card (PVC), late arrival of election materials, non adherence to the principles and operations of card reader in the use of PVCs also gave room for under aged voters.
In their submission, they recognised the role of card reader in the improvement made in the 2015 general elections and charged INEC to do everything possible.
“This is to perfect the electronic voting system in the country. If banks can register numbers in short time why can’t INEC do same?’’
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The election stakeholders also commended the administration of Goodluck Jonathan for swiftly accepting the election results and congratulating president Buhari as that according to them averted a major crises in the country.
They equally praised the contributions of the social media which they said gave opportunity to citizens to monitor the election.
They urged INEC to be sensitive to the plight of women and physically-challenged persons by providing special facilities to carter for their needs within the polling units.
While commending INEC for improvement recorded in the last elections, they called on it to do everything within it power to make electronic voting system a reality in the country.
They, therefore, urged INEC to monitor funds used in elections by political parties and ensure that accreditation and voting were done simultaneously in subsequent elections.
Executive Director of CRD, Ahmad Mohammed said the workshop was to look into the 2015 general elections and to develop a concept note on how to improve on subsequent elections which will be presented to INEC. (NAN)
