Continuous Voters Registration: 8 Major Factors Hindering Electoral Exercise
- The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise on Monday, June 28
- To provide independent oversight over the CVR exercise, Yiaga Africa trained and deployed 171 Watching the Vote (WTV) observers in six states
- Yiaga Africa employs a mixed methodology consisting of stationary observation and mobile observation
FCT, Abuja - Foremost election observer, Yiaga Africa, has released its first report on the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.
The organisation assigned observers to various pre-assigned local government areas registration centres.
The observers documented critical incidents witnessed and send in reports of the critical incidents observed.
Source: Getty Images
Legit.ng lists 8 major issues hindering the electoral exercise as revealed by Yiaga Africa.
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They are:
1. Registration of ineligible citizens as voters (underage Nigerians)
Yiaga Africa observers reported the registration of underaged citizens as prospective voters on July 29 in Langtang North local government area in Plateau state and Madobi and Kano Municipal local government areas in Kano state.
2. Restriction of movement across some local government areas in Anambra and Rivers states
WTV observers reported a slow start of the CVR exercise in some states due to some restrictions of movement affecting citizens' access to the registration centres. The restriction was due in part to a purported sit-at-home order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra.
3. Slow start on commencement day in some states
Reports of centres not opening were received from Dawakin Tofa, Kura and Madobi local government areas in Kano state as well as in Mangu local government area in Plateau state on Monday, July 26. However, these centres were subsequently opened and the CVR exercise commenced before the end of the first week.
4. Challenges with the INEC Voters Enrolment Device (IVED)
Yiaga Africa citizens observers reported a range of issues with the IVED, from officials not being able to access the device because of password issues, slow internet connectivity, slow performance of the device and malfunctioning of the device in some locations.
5. Conflicting information on online pre-registration and physical exercise
There seems to be conflicting information as regards the status of Nigerians who have commenced the pre-registration process via the INEC online portal and citizens who are accessing the physical process directly. For instance, Yiaga Africa received reports from Karu and Bwari area councils in Abuja registration centres suggesting that registration officials were only attending to registrants who had commenced the pre-registration process via the INEC portal.
6. Disinterest by political parties
Yiaga Africa observed the abysmally low participation of political parties in the CVR process indicated in the absence of political party-specific citizens mobilisation activities to increase participation and the absence of political party agents in the registration centres.
7. Security concerns
The reports of absence of security personnel at some of the registration centres is worrying given the different security concerns across most states of the federation and the previous attacks to some INEC offices and properties in some local government areas.
8. Observers not allowed to observe in some local government areas
Despite accrediting observers to observe the Continuous Voters Registration process, Yiaga Africa received reports that observers were not allowed to observe the CVR process in some LGAs despite showing evidence of accreditation.
Source: Legit.ng
