Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Kebbi Development Forum (KDF) have advocated the need for States Independent Electoral Commission to be run like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
These are part of the recommendations by the groups at a press briefing on the outcome of last Saturday’s Local Government Councils election in Kebbi State.
The spokespersons of the Kebbi Development Forum Dr. Fatima Adamu and that of the Center for Democracy and Development, Austin Agbere commend that, the electoral laws and guidelines for the local government election are very weak, which is capable of providing ease of manipulation by politicians.
The group recommended that the National and international observer groups must take interest in observing local government elections in the country because, the outcomes of such elections have implications for national elections, particularly as the country heads to a general election in 2023.
According to the recommendations, Inadequate funding was one of the problems faced by the state’s independent electoral commission, adding that, there should be special funds kept aside in order to carry the affairs of commission at the states level.
It’s also recommended for the introduction of technology saying, the country has moved beyond the manual accreditation used in the local government poll, in many instances, presiding officers had challenge verifying that the persons who brought PVC to the polling units are the owners.
As regards, timing and other Logistics, the election process needs commencement and closing time, this will enable candidates to mobilize voters within a speculated time and as well the process should be a secret ballot whereby In most cases voters display their ballot paper before votes are counted.
