Ahead of Saturday’s governorship and state assemblies’ elections, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that election officials use Smart Card Readers (SCRs) nationwide.
The CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, said on Thursday in Abuja that the card readers must be made compulsory nationwide rather than in some parts of the country adding that zero (0) has to be recorded for all polling units were the SCRs are not used.
According to her, in the February 23 presidential and parliamentary elections, reports of selective use of card readers in some parts of the country were commonplace, though INEC said that it was pleased with the SCR’s ‘functionality and efficiency’ in authenticating millions of voters ‘within a short time’.
She said, “The patchy use of SCRs further cause voting delays that could affect the smooth conduct of the elections; even doing so violates INEC’s regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections issued on 12 January, 2019. These regulations call for mandatory use of smart card readers in line with the provisions of Section 49 (2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).”
She listed section 10 (a) of INEC’s regulation for 2019 elections says that “a person intending to vote shall be verified to be the same person on the Register of Voters by use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) in the manner prescribed in these regulations and guidelines.”
Section 10 (b) of the same regulations and guidelines stipulates that “any poll official who violates the provision of clause 10 (a) shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to prosecution.”
She added that the last elections on February 23 were adversely affected by the intimidation of election officials, RECs and voters by security officials and in some instance party agents.
She called on all political parties to abide by the peace accord they voluntarily entered into and avoid any form of violence or intimidation of INEC officials and ad-hoc staff.
The CDD also deplored the unprofessionalism exhibited by some security agents during the just concluded elections and warned that there shall be individual responsibility for officials found to unduly and unlawfully interfere in the electioneering process.
“Despite these challenges, the CDD is imploring all eligible voters to still come out and vote on Saturday,” she added.
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