The decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to, again, postpone the re-run legislative elections in Rivers State is a serious setback to the consolidation of democracy in the state. It is also a bad omen for the rest of the country.

Currently, the state is in deficit in its representation in the National Assembly and State House of Assembly. None of the three senators is in place. Only five of 13 members of the House of Representatives are functioning, and only 19 of 31 state constituencies are represented in the House of Assembly. This, undoubtedly, does not speak well of the democratic franchise which the constitution bestowed on the state and the people.

Strenuous efforts have been made to fill the vacancies since the decision of the Court of Appeal to sack those that were originally inaugurated into all the seats after the National Assembly and State legislative elections in 2015. However, repeated rerun efforts have been frustrated by acts of violence between opposing members of the political class, which is sometimes directed at INEC agents.

When the first effort was made to hold the re-run elections last March, Mr. Samuel Okonta, who was performing his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) primary assignment in that state, was killed on duty as an election officer. A second attempt to conduct the elections on July 30 2016 following confidence-building meetings with the political class was also aborted after a spiralling of violence in some areas including the burning of INEC offices,

The situation undoubtedly calls for concern because the state has the constitutional rights to full representation at both state and national legislative assemblies. Its interests must be protected, and only a full complement of its representatives can ensure this. The nation is losing out by not having lawmakers from Rivers State contributing to the efforts to develop the country.

We recognise the fact that the growing trend of inconclusive elections is a fault of the political contenders, complications arisng from the Electoral Act as amended and INEC rules. The political parties and leaders must, therefore, respect the peace deal they signed before INEC postponed the rerun election yet again in July. INEC must also clean up its act because the spate of inconclusive polls, which has assumed unprecedented proportions in the past one year, must be curbed.

With an economy mired in recession due to poor revenue capacity, both the state and the political practitioners can ill-afford inconclusive elections. With so much spent on repeated elections, those who do get elected into public offices become more predisposed to corruption.

The Rivers State rerun must be conducted as soon as possible and it must succeed.