NATIONAL Commissioner and Chairman of the Board of Electoral Institute, BEI, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Amina Zakari, has attributed the series of inconclusive elections in recent times to a strengthened electoral process rather than weakness on the part of the commission.

She said that the emergence of strong parties, fielding strong candidates in keenly contested elections with narrow margins; evidence based elections with the use of technology especially use of the Smart Card Reader and the e-Track leading to a more transparent process were some of the indicators of a stronger electoral process.

Zakari further explained that additional checks and balances such as the source of ad-hoc election personnel, customised sensitive materials and increased awareness and application of electoral laws and INEC guidelines (Section 53 of 2010 Electoral Act as amended), which deals with over voting and section 26 which deals with postponement due to threat of violence and other emergencies all make the process better.

The National Commissioner spoke yesterday at a round table dialogue, with the theme: Trends of Inconclusive Elections and the Challenge of Strengthening the Electoral Process, organised by the Electoral Institute with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Abuja.

She said: “Faced with circumstances and armed with the legal provisions, INEC, in an attempt to be fair to all, and to move away from the established syndrome of ‘announce the result at any cost and leave it to the courts’, usually invokes the relevant sections to declare elections inconclusive pending determination of the winner through supplementary elections.”

Zakari, who was also the Chairman of the occasion, noted that on the negative side, politicians and their followers were changing tactics, as it was becoming obvious that elections were not business as usual as such they embark on ‘’direct intimidation of voters and INEC staff not to use the Smart Card Reader to force over voting and perpetrate violence through the use of weapons including guns to scare away voters in an attempt to influence outcome of elections.”