By Innocent Anaba

A coalition of civil society groups in the South East, under the aegis of South-East Based Coalition of Human Rights Organisations, SBCHROs, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conclude outstanding parliamentary re-run elections in Imo, Anambra and Rivers states.

It noted that INEC was denying many people representations at the national and respective state Houses of Assembly.

The coalition is made up of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law; Anambra State Branch of the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO; Centre for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy, CHRPA; Human Rights Club, HRC, (a project of LRRDC); Forum for Justice, Equity & Defense of Human Rights, FJEDHR; Society Advocacy Watch Project, SPAW; Anambra Human Rights Forum, AHRF; South-East Good Governance Forum, SGGF; International Solidarity for Peace & Human Rights Initiative, ITERSOLIDARI-TY; Igbo Ekunie Initiative (pan Igbo rights advocacy group) and Intersociety.

In an open letter to INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, the coalition said: “It saddens our heart that over 12 months after the country’s federal legislative polls was conducted, five senatorial districts, with combined electoral population of about 15 million, have been denied quality and deliberative legislative representation since December 2015.”