European Union’s Damning Report Admitted In Evidence By PEPC

The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, has admitted in evidence, the damning report on the February 25 Presidential Election by the European Union Observers Team, which, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was won by the then Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, now President Bola Tinubu.

The Report dismissed the process and outcome of the Election as non-transparent and fraudulent.

Following is the Executive Summary of the Report on Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections which the Presidency swiftly reacted to, and dismissed as nonsense.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: EU Election Observation Mission Final Report On  General Elections in Nigeria 25 February and 18 March 2023

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 2023 general elections did not ensure a well-run transparent, and inclusive democratic process as assured by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and was not restored in state level elections, leading civil society to call for an independent audit of the entire process. The pre-poll environment was volatile and challenging, affected by economic crises.

Fundamental freedoms of assembly and movement were broadly respected, yet the full enjoyment of the latter was impeded by insecurity in some parts of the country.

Abuse of incumbency by various political office holders distorted the playing field and wide-spread vote buying detracted from an appropriate conduct of the elections. Incidents of organised violence shortly before and on election days in several states created an environment deterring voter’s participation. Media raised voters’ awareness, fact-checkers stood up against disinformation and civil society demanded INEC’s accountability.

The overall outcome of the polls attests to the continued under-representation of marginalised groups in political life. Positively, candidates and parties disputing outcomes took their complaints to the courts, although the number of such cases was extensive.

The electoral legal framework lays an adequate foundation for the conduct of democratic elections, with key regional and international standards being ratified.

However, gaps and ambiguities in national law enable circumvention, do not safeguard transparency, while also allow undue restrictions to the rights to stand and to vote.

Fundamental freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, while constitutionally guaranteed, were not always well protected.

The widely welcomed Electoral Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) introduced measures aimed at building stakeholder trust.

However, the Act’s first test in a general election revealed crucial gaps in terms of INEC’s accountability and transparency, proved to be insufficiently elaborated, and lacked clear provisions for a timely and efficient implementation.

Weak points include a lack of INEC independent structures and capacities to enforce sanctions for electoral offences and breaches of campaign finance rules. Furthermore, the presidential selection of INEC leadership at federal and state level leaves the electoral institution vulnerable to the perception of partiality.

Early in the process, while enjoying a broad stakeholder trust, INEC introduced a series of positive measures to strengthen the conduct of the elections. However, closer to the polls some started to doubt INEC’s administrative and operational efficiency and in-house capacity.

Public confidence gradually decreased and was severely damaged on 25 February due to its operational failures and lack of transparency.

While some corrective measures introduced before the 18 March elections were effective, overall trust was not restored.

The introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) was widely seen as an important step to ensure the integrity and credibility of the elections. In practice, multiple missteps and lack of transparency before the polls, compounded by severely delayed display of presidential result forms, dashed the public trust in election technologies used. INEC failed to give a timely and comprehensive explanation for the failures on 25 February, hence the improved online display of results forms from the 18 March state elections just fuelled further speculations about what exactly caused the delays after the presidential poll.

A total of 93.4 million voters were registered for the 2023 elections. Owing to civic mobilisation during registration, two-thirds of the 9.5 million new registrants were youth. Yet,  poor institutional planning and, again, lack of transparency negatively affected the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC). Confidence in collection rates per polling unit was undermined due to their belated publication.

Overall, an external independent audit could have helped to assure accuracy and inclusiveness of the voter register.

Following a contentious candidate registration process there were 18 contestants for the presidential office, 4,223 for national assembly seats and some 11,000 for state elections. All candidates were selected in party primaries many of which reportedly involved excessive costs to participate, lacked transparency and were marked by low levels of participation of women as aspiring candidates.

Leading political parties fielded only two female candidates for highly prized governor seats. This demonstrated a severe underrepresentation of women in political life and a lack of internal party policies to support inclusion, contrary to constitutional principles and international commitments.

Excessive pre-election litigation exposed pervasive intraparty conflicts and, compounded by protracted legal deadlines for solving candidacy disputes, created uncertainty for voters, electoral contestants, and INEC alike. Among at least 1,200 court cases, some were perceived as politicised, others too technical, while some overlapped with the polls.

Some legal disputes negatively impacted candidates’ prospects to meaningfully campaign, while others risked undermining trust in the democratic process.

The campaign, extended under the 2022 Act, took place in a shifting political landscape with ongoing realignments across party lines. It was competitive and presidential contestants conducted rallies nationwide, but Naira cash and fuel scarcity and insecurity reduced activities and attendance. Canvassing was personality-centred, and many governors used their executive powers to tilt the playing field.

Overall, divisive rhetoric with ethnic and religious undertones led to increased polarisation.

The EU EOM recorded 101 violent incidents during the campaign, including at least 74 fatalities. Assassination attempts and killings increased closer to the polls, creating a particularly insecure environment in the southern states. In several northern states, systematic attacks by political thugs on rallies and political opponents was observed. Use of violence obstructed the campaign, disturbed the elections, and supressed voter participation.

Campaigning was also distorted by an influx of unrecorded money and despite campaign finance being comprehensively regulated the law appears largely ineffective. EU EOM observers received reports of and saw widespread distribution of goods and vote buying.

Several state agencies tried to tackle corrupt practices, yet their results were modest. This is evidencing that political will, enhanced institutional capacity, and robust enforcement synergy are needed to ensure transparency and genuine accountability.

Media offered extensive campaign coverage, with APC and PDP getting equitable exposure. During interviews, politicians rebuffed merit-based questions, focusing instead on inter and intra party mudslinging. Analytical reporting was scant as, fearing retribution from the governor, many state-level outlets practiced self-censorship.

The broadcast media regulator imposed at least 43 fines without a due process, while numerous attacks on journalists went unpunished. Overall, police inaction compounded by institutional pressures impeded freedom of expression and hindered voters’ access to diverse information on electoral choices.

Social media was an important campaigning and mobilisation tool for candidates, especially in close contests. It was further used by political camps to create false impressions of support or to attack opponents, as well as to spread false information. However, social media also  provided a platform for citizens to express their views and stimulated important debates about the elections. Unfortunately, authorities often used the Cybercrimes Act to supress freedom of expression online.

Online and offline media joined forces with civil society and fact-checkers to safeguard the integrity of the information environment. Real-time fact checking of gubernatorial and other contestants’ debates strived to hold candidates accountable, while various formats of voter information raised awareness.

Civil society played a crucial and positive role in the electoral process, offering a non-partisan assessment of INEC’s conduct and, after the 25 February polls, calling for greater transparency and accountability. Statements by citizen observer groups also pointed to INEC’s failures, while their leaders took part in online and offline discussions focusing on the impact of thuggery, violence, and intimidation on voters, and called for a thorough independent review of the 2023 elections.

Active involvement of youth was expected to be a decisive feature of the 2023 elections, especially considering the 2020’s wave of civic activism. However, despite targeted voter information efforts, political parties were seen to exploit youth, many of whom were vulnerable to pressure or coercion on social, financial, and educational grounds. This underlines the need for greater efforts to protect genuine youth engagement in elections.

Independent and active participation in elections of voters from marginalised groups was not sufficiently supported. Persons with disabilities could not always access polling units and assistive devices were rarely available. Data on registration and voting by internally displaced persons was not published. Overall, without a detailed operational framework for inclusion, regional commitments and constitutional guarantees of citizens’ equality cannot be achieved.

On 25 February voting was critically delayed by the late arrival of sensitive materials and, during the early stages of the collation, presidential result forms from polling units were not displayed real-time on the IReV as committed to by INEC and anticipated by all stakeholders.

A critical failure in the entire election process manifested at collation stage on 25 February, due to widespread disorganisation, a lack of adherence to prescribed procedures, and an unsuitable environment. By the time of the declaration of presidential results, one quarter of result forms were still missing from the IReV, and a significant percentage of the forms uploaded on IReV, often needed for comparison with manual results, were not legible.

On 18 March, voting started on time, yet multiple incidents of thuggery and intimidation interrupted polling, targeting voters, INEC personnel, citizen observers and journalists.

On election days, most incidents occurred mainly across the south but also in central and northern states. Voters’ deep disillusionment with the conduct of both polls was evident. The quality of the forms uploaded on IReV substantially improved as compared with the presidential elections.

On 1 March, INEC declared that the ruling APC’s Bola Tinubu had won the presidential race, while the party retained its parliamentary lead. In total eight parties are now represented in the National Assembly. The APC will have 16 governors, the PDP ten, the LP one, and the NNPP one. The outcome of two gubernatorial and 39 National Assembly races were established in repeated elections on 15 April, after the departure of the EU EOM.

The results for many electoral races were disputed in court, with the presidential petitions dominating public discourse. The judiciary, already challenged by a poor public perception a  resources limitations, is now faced with a daunting task with potential significant long term political consequences.

The high number of post-election petitions also are administratively and budgetarily costly for INEC. The post-election environment saw ongoing political animosities, unfolding primarily through the media and online, though protests remained peaceful.

The general elections highlighted a clear commitment among Nigerian voters to the democratic process but also demonstrated an urgent need for transparent and inclusive legal and operational reforms to tackle enduring systemic weaknesses of the electoral process. The EU EOM is offering 23 recommendations to improve electoral processes and to uphold regional and international commitments.