By BEN AGANDE

ABUJA -The Commonwealth Observer Group on the National Assembly Elections and the National Democratic Institute have commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for the conduct of las Saturday’s National Assembly Elections and have called on relevant bodies especially the security forces to tackle the cases of electoral violence in order to forestall a repeat in the remaining elections.

Presenting separate reports on the elections in Abuja, the two groups noted that though there were isolated incidences of electoral malfeasance during the elections, such incidences were not enough to affect the overall results of the elections.

Head of the Commonwealth Observer Group, former President of Botswana, Festus Mogae noted that the National Assembly elections was an ‘important step’ as problems experienced on the 2nd April when the elections were postponed ‘did not take place in the vast majority of constituencies in Nigeria.

“The required staff and stakeholders were present and the various stages of the electoral process on polling day – including accreditation, voting, counting, tabulation and declaration of results -broadly proceeded smoothly and transparently. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deserves commendation for this. Appreciation should also go to the young recruits from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in this regard.

“Those who turned out to vote last Saturday behaved with decorum and dignity. We commend their enthusiasm, patience and commitment, which clearly reflected a genuine desire for a credible electoral process” he said.

While decrying the low turn out of voters in some places, Mr Mogae expressed optimism that ‘this will be reversed for the up coming elections’.

On the logistical challenges experienced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the former Botswana president noted that “We do not believe that these called into question the overall credibility of the process. I will be drawing these to the attention of the Chairman of INEC. We feel that there is scope and time for certain measures to be taken to improve the conduct of the elections at the next round, especially if the turnout is larger – which we fully hope and expect to be the case.

“We believe that an important step forward has been taken in Nigeria with the successful conduct of the National Assembly elections. We hope that the necessary lessons will be learned from the exercise and that the remaining elements of the electoral timetable will be even better organised. We urge Nigerians to continue to behave with a sense of responsibility, maintain public order and turn out in larger numbers to demonstrate their faith in democracy” he said.

On its part, the leader of the National Democratic Institute Observer team, Mr Joe Clark who was the former Canadian Prime Minister noted that the conduct of the National Assembly elections was a far improvement on what was obtainable in the 2007 elections and commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for the improvement.

He noted that though ‘increased  citizen awareness; public confidence in the leadership of the elections authorities and greater engagement  by political parties and civil society all provided a basis for a break from previous failed elections’ there was need for ‘continued vigilance to realize the promises of these polls’.

The NDI observer group leader said the ‘serious problems observed by the delegation included instances of significantly late openings of polls; inaccurate, incomplete or missing voters list; inconsistent application of procedures; underage voting; overcrowding of polling sites; lack of ballot secrecy; failure to post results at polling sites and missing elections materials’.

He warned that unless these problems are addressed, ‘they could adversely affect hotly contested presidential and gubernatorial races which voter turnout is expected to be higher’.

The NDI further called on security agencies ‘enforce vigourously the law against underage voting’ and to ‘take immediate steps to prosecute those responsible for election violence and fraud and widely publicise the actions taken’.