Nigerian elections: EU says infested by violence, obstructions

Lack of transparency, vote buying, multiple issues of thuggery, intimidation, and several casualties were some of the issues the European Union Observation Mission noted during the March 18th Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections in Nigeria.

The Chief Observer and Member of the European Parliament, Barry Andrews while presenting the second preliminary statement from their observation mission says there was a high level of citizen participation and engagement during the elections.

“Throughout the mission, we saw that Nigerians have a great appetite for democracy and are keen to engage in various civic activities. However in many parts of the country, their expectations were not met by INEC and political elites,” he noted.

Although the state elections were competitive, the EU says there was a high level of insecurity in some parts of the country.
“Insecurity impeded the canvas for votes in certain parts of the country and organized violent attacks shortly before the elections in several states led to a fearful atmosphere.”

They also observed the misuse of administrative resources and clear under-representation of women as candidates which demonstrated a lack of internal party policies to support constitutionally prescribed inclusion.

However, they applauded the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for introducing some corrective measures ahead of the polls which allowed for the timely delivery of sensitive materials and an improvement of election technologies as voting began on time with INEC officials present.