Toward 2007 elections: INEC preparations in retrospect
An Analysis by By Asdul-Rahman Balogun, News Agency of Nigeria
The year 2006 could be described as a turning point in INEC activities, as its preparation for the 2007 general elections gradually peaks.
Analysts, however, concede that the commission's multi-dimensional activities are somewhat imperative for the country to have successful, credible andacceptable elections next year.
They, nonetheless, argue that apart from itsconstitutional backing, INEC needs a more specific legal instrument to conduct the forthcoming elections.
Their fears appear well grounded, as a new electoral law soon came up with the passage of the 2006 Electoral Act in June.
Prior to that, INEC had been busy making arrangements for the election by focusing its attention on the country's political parties. 20 more parties were registered by the commission, thus bringing the number to 50.That singular act of opening up the political space was applauded by many stakeholders, as it would further widen the scope of choice among the parties for the citizenry and politicians alike.
With 50 parties now on board, the commission made some innovations which included the inauguration of the Electoral Institute, the Voter Education Unit and Voter Registry Directorate.
The newly created agencies and units are designed to promote smooth relations among the political parties, the politicians, the electorate and other stakeholders.
For instance, the Voter Registry was established to handle all matters on voters' registration, while the Voter Education Unit was to sensitise the citizens on their electoral rights.
However, it is the 2006 Electoral Act that really fosters the increase in the commission's activities, as virtually all its actions are basically derived from the provisions of the Act.
The commission on Aug. 29 fixed the dates for the commencement of voter registration, while the election time-table was also released.
The voter registration started on Oct 7 in some selected pilot areas, while nationwide registration of voters commenced on Oct. 25.
The current voters' registration is being carried out with a more sophisticated electronic device the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machine.
The current registration method is part of the newly introduced Electronic Voting System (EVS), an integrated system consisting of four major components.
The components are electronic voters register,eligible voters authentication, electronic balloting (Voting Machine) and electronic transmission of results.
However, the National Assembly rejected the use of electronic voting machines in 2007 elections but retained the use of the other three systems.
With the approval of the National Assembly, INEC had taken delivery of 40,000 units of DDC machines for use in the 120,000 registration centres across the country.
New deliveries of the DDC machines have somewhat addressed the problems associated with the shortage of the machines in the voter registration.
Besides, INEC has also extended the voter registration from the initial deadline of Dec. 14 to Jan. 30, 2007, so as to enable more citizens to fully participate in the exercise.
INEC disclosed that about 22 million eligible voters had been captured as at Dec. 22.
Moreover, the commission also fixed Dec. 22 as the deadline for the submission of the list of party candidates for all elective positions.
The display of the party ca ndidates' lists commenced on Dec. 28 and the candidates are expected to be screened by INEC on Jan. 4, next year.
By Dec. 22, INEC had observed over 20 party national conventions, which produced close to 19 presidential candidates and over 500 governorship candidates for the 50 political parties.
There is no gainsaying the fact that, 2006 had been a very busy year for INEC, as the year is a prelude to 2007, the election year.
The preparations notwithstanding, some stakeholders are not happy with the slow pace of voters' registration and canvassed the return to the manual registration procedure, as against the ``preferred'' electronic variant.
It is very pertinent to note that, the National Assembly has even commenced the process of amending some sections of the 2006 Electoral Act, to compel INEC to use manual voter register for 2007 elections.
The amendment may scale through, in spite of the repeated assurances by INEC Chairman Maurice Iwu that, all eligible voters would be registered for the coming elections.
As the citizens await the full commencement of the exercise and its outcome, the major challenge facing INEC is how to convince the citizenry that, it is able to conduct free, fair and credible elections this year.