By Festus Okoye

The conduct of transparent, free and fair elections is central to the credibility of the electoral process and the level of the acceptability of the outcome by the candidates and the public. “The winners of an election are usually satisfied with the outcome, but it is often more challenging to persuade the losers (and their supporters) that they lost.

To that end, it is not sufficient that election results be accurate. The public must also know the results are accurate, which can only be achieved if conduct of the election is sufficiently transparent that candidates, the press, and the general public can satisfy themselves that no errors or cheating have occurred.”

It is more challenging when the “winners” and “losers” know that the elections of which they claim victory or of which they challenge is tainted by a variety of irregularities. In such cases and instances, they “fight to finish” and the result is that the credibility of the vote and the electoral process is called to question.

The case of Nigeria is even more complex. It is complex in the sense that with every election, the level of electoral manipulation and irregularities gets more sophisticated. Not only that, the challenge of registering over 60 million voters, training registration officers, ensuring the honesty of those officers and auditing registration to ensure that potential voters are not eliminated are daunting. More daunting is the task of conducting elections in an environment characterized by desperate politicians that see power and its appurtenances as a prized possession that must be sought for and acquired by all means.

It is therefore clear that the Nigerian people, civil society groups and organisations and patriotic political parties must begin the process of injecting new ideas and methods into the electoral system of Nigeria. It is clear that the political class has completely bought over and corrupted the old method of manually registering voters. They have also hijacked and corruptly perfected the manipulation of the use of the paper ballot for all elections.

The challenge therefore is to find creative, adaptable, less expensive, accurate and transparent electronic system of voter registration and voting that will restore the confidence of Nigerians on their votes as the major determinant of electoral succession. In this search and its implementation, civil society groups and organisations must play a key role in mobilization and making sure that the same forces that hijacked and corrupted the use of manual methods of voter registration and paper ballot do not move in to hijack the new method and new system.

The Nigerian Experience
Nigeria has over the years used the manual system of voter registration and paper ballot for its registration and voting processes. The successes of the system in terms of the transparency, freeness and fairness of elections have been a mixed bag.  Elections in Nigeria have been fiercely contested and disputed and this has sometimes moved Nigeria towards lawlessness, deaths, destruction of properties, detention of opponents, and civil war. In each election, the political class improves on their modes and methods of electoral malpractices.

This is attested by the number of petitions that go to the various Tribunals with each successive election which has over the years been on the rise. “In the general elections held in 2003, a total of 574 petitions were filed throughout the federation. However, in the elections of 2007, a total of 1,475 petitions were filed. This figure almost tripled the petitions filed in 2003.”

The petitioners proved some of the allegations in their petitions while others could not be proved. In some instances, the voters genuinely felt that their votes did not count in the elections and their sovereign right and power as the repository of sovereignty and determinant of electoral succession had been abridged.

In terms of voter registration, it has also become clear that the political elite introduce new techniques and new technology of electoral manipulation in each successive election, corrupt the electoral process and hold the voters register to ransom as they recognise that the voters register is the foundation of credible elections.

These desperate politicians and their cronies and agents register under age persons. They carry out multiple registration exercises. They register nonexistent individuals. They register those who are dead. They carry out community registration whereby anybody can be given a voter’s card belonging to nonexistent individuals and they use them to vote.

They buy up voter’s cards in areas where they are not popular and over register in areas of their stronghold. They use all sorts of subterfuge to corrupt the system. This is why in some countries including Nigeria” the deceased seem to cast ballots from the grave. Children too are on the electoral rolls. Ballot boxes disappear into thin air. Candidates are arrested, poisoned, even murdered” Registration challenges are transposed to difficulties during the voting process. When voters cannot trace their names on the voters register, there is confusion at the polling unit.

When the names of voters are misspelt and they cannot vote, there is problem. When a 14 year old arrives at the polling unit to vote with thugs protecting him or her, there is problem. When a 14 year old comes to vote with the voter’s card of a 60 year old, the electoral process is in trouble. When dead person’s names are on the voters roll, the credibility of the process is called to question. When the names of prominent foreigners are on the voters roll, the credibility of the results declared and the credibility of the electoral process is in doubt.

Nigeria must therefore design a process and procedure of voter’s registration and vote casting that restores the sovereign right of the voters as the sole determinants of electoral succession. Such a system must ensure and guarantee transparency, assure voters of the credibility of the ballot and make the process of registration and voting less hazardous.

The challenges
The challenge of moving away from the known to the unknown is a serious one but no society makes serious progress without taking risks and facing new challenges as they arise. Nigeria has experimented with manual voter’s registration and the political elite have not allowed it to work. It has worked and is still working for other countries.

Nigeria has used and continues to use the paper ballot but the outcome of that usage has been disastrous. Other countries have used and continue to use the paper ballot and it works for them. The move away from manual registration and paper ballot in some counties is aimed at making the process more accurate, stress free and transparent.

Unfortunately, the move in Nigeria is a move aimed at giving credibility to the electoral process, making the votes of the people count and preventing dubious politicians from rigging their way to power. In the introduction of a new system, the electoral management body and the Nigerian people must confront the following challenges: The do-or die attitude of Nigerian politicians towards winning elections.

A section of the political class that live fat on the commonwealth of Nigerians and who are not popular in their communities and constituencies will not on their own allow any system to work. They have perfected the art of subterfuge and manipulating the electoral process and any system that will prevent them from doing that must be resisted.

The literacy level in the Nigerian society must be taken into consideration in designing any new system to replace the existing one.  A lot of our people are still literacy challenged and changing from a system they are used to may be resisted but intensive intense civic and political education will build faith and confidence in the new system.

Getting the right and compatible technology for Nigeria that takes care of the fact that Nigeria has a difficult geographical terrain, electricity difficulties and maintenance problems will be an added advantage to the new initiative. The voting populace, the candidates and civil society groups and organisations must be assured that the new system must be transparent and suit the Nigerian demographical environment as some electronic processes are extremely opaque.

The Alternative Models
The National Political Reform Conference “mindful of its crucial role in ensuring the sustenance of democracy and good governance urged the government and the electoral management body to consider adopting the Indian electronic voting system(EVS)produced by the Electoral Commission of India.

However, the members of the National Assembly in amending the Electoral Act, 2002 prohibited the use of Electronic Voting Machines. Section 53(2) of the Electoral Act, 2006 states clearly that “The use of Electronic Voting Machine for the time being is prohibited.

The Electoral Reform Committee(ERC) set up by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 27th day of August 2007 in its recommendations reviewed the voting process and procedure and recommended the use of electronic voting machines for future elections but this should be introduced gradually after a period of limited testing and experimentation.

It can be seen therefore that there is some consensus that Nigeria should move towards Electronic Voting Systems and the only point of disagreement is as to the timing, type and modalities for its take off. This is really where the role of civil society groups and organisations becomes very crucial.

The Role of Civil Society Groups
Civil society groups and organisations especially the ones engaged in election observation have a big role to play in the introduction of a new system of voter registration and the modification of paper ballots and or introduction of electronic voting systems into the electoral process. In the light of the crucial role played and still being played by civil society groups and organisations in the democratisation process, it is important for them to be at the vanguard in explaining and educating the people on the advantages and disadvantages of electronic voting systems.

Civil Society groups and Electronic Voting Systems
It can be seen that in bringing about the new system and protecting its integrity, civil society groups and organisations have a great role to play. It can be said boldly that domestic election observers and civil society groups and organisations have carried out intense civic and political education even more than the political parties whose primary responsibility is to package and mobilize their supporters around their issues, voting processes and procedures.

Civil society groups and organisations have also assisted in degrading the large incidents of electoral fraud and malpractices by politicians and political parties. The presence and activities of domestic election observers no doubt has helped in sustaining Nigerian democracy, preventing descent to lawlessness and promoting the rule of law and due process.

Despite the activities of civil society groups and domestic observers, Nigerian politicians desperate for power continue to devise new means and methods of circumventing good electoral practices in favour of electoral fraud.
The big challenge therefore is how to protect the integrity of whatever system that is adopted.

Civil society groups and organisations have never opposed the use of electronic systems for voters’ registration and the voting process. Civil society groups have canvassed and insisted on six broad issues.

That the use of electronic systems for voters registration and voting should be introduced into the country and into the system gradually using smaller elections to test their efficacy and compatibility before moving to bigger elections.

That whichever brand of technology is used or introduced should be compatible and respond to Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances in the area of difficult terrain, low literacy level and power generation challenges.

That the system to be introduced and used should guarantee some level of transparency associated with the paper ballot and or that the two should be used simultaneously so that one can be used to cross check and complement the other.

Intentional subversion of the system through a process of “hacking” by very creative, determined and well resourced minds on the pay roll of desperate and opportunistic politicians should be tracked and eliminated through testing using smaller elections.

That there should be massive civic and political education for the operators of the system and the users to avoid recycling the problems associated with the paper ballot.

That the electoral management body should engage in intensive training of technically capable poll workers and on call technicians to deal with machine related problems and challenges.

The Way to Go:
Civil society groups and organisations believe that “a trustworthy election system depends on three factors: technology, procedures, and observation.” To this end civil society groups have a responsibility to: Build the confidence of the Nigerian populace on the advantages of paperless ballot. This is against the background of experiences with the paper ballot and the criminal tendencies of the political elite that have more or less led to the disengagement of the people from the political process as they believe that their votes no longer count.

Ensure the accountability of the new system because without accountability, a system is simply not trustworthy. Collaborate with the electoral management body and technically competent professionals in training election observers on the new system as the new system will introduce a new regime in electoral observation.
Sensitize and enlighten the Nigerian public on the new system of voting to prevent a situation where gaps are created between the system and the voters.

Monitor and observe every stage of the electoral process to ensure the integrity of the vote and prevent desperate politicians from  corrupting the new system. Advice the electoral management body on problems and challenges with the new system and suggest areas of improvement.

Map out comprehensive and technically sound civic and political education programs to complement the role of the electoral management body and the political parties. Study the use of electronic voting systems in other countries and incorporate best practices into the Nigerian system.