Ensure electoral transparency in forth coming guber elections_ CSO

Ahead of the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States, civil society organizations, under the Electoral Forum, have urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fully restore electoral processes to prevent disputes from being settled in court.

The forum, which recently held a technical session on the impact of Supreme Court rulings on recent governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states, expressed concern over the decline in electoral integrity.

A communiqué signed by the forum’s chairman, Prof. Adebayo, stated: “We critically examined the current electoral system and proposed several reforms, including considering a mixed electoral system and expanding acceptable voter identification methods.

“After extensive discussion, we made significant recommendations to address key issues in electoral governance in Nigeria. These include:

– Implementing transparent direct funding mechanisms for Local Government Areas to improve local governance and development.
– Strengthening the independence and capacity of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) through legislative reforms and standardized operational guidelines.
– Establishing a formal framework for better collaboration between INEC and SIECs to enhance the quality of local elections.
– Reforming the judicial system to emphasize merit-based appointments and establish clear timelines for resolving electoral disputes.
– Exploring the adoption of a mixed electoral system to improve representativeness and inclusivity in politics.”