From Our Correspondent
A coalition of accredited election observers has called for the establishment of electoral offences commission and audit of voter register.
TheNewsZenith reports that the coalition made this call at the presentation of the Citizens’ Memorandum for Reform of the Electoral Legal Framework, on Wednesday, in Abuja.
They said establishing the commission would help to address electoral offences that have characterised the nation’s voting process.
Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, Ibijoke Faborode, Executive Director, said the aim was to reposition the electoral legal framework.
Faborode said this was against the backdrop of recent landmark judicial decisions.
She listed the priority areas of reform in the memorandum.
These included INEC independence, efficiency and professionalism, unbundling of INEC, electoral offences and election adjudication and diaspora voting.
Others, she said, were special seats, political party reform, constituency delimitation, voter accreditation, voter register and voter registration.
he framework also concern women, youths and persons with disabilities, inclusivity and early voting.
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In his remarks, Mr Samson Itodo, Executive Director, YIAGA Africa, said the reform was key to accountability and tackling impunity.
“The fact that people are not just going to jail as a result of vote buying is one that’s troubling.
“One of the things that we have called on the National Assembly to do is to review the sanctions.
“We are advocating the need to review the sanctions regime for this kind of behaviour.
“Nigerians and voters need to understand the implication of selling their votes.
“If they lose their voices they cannot hold the politician accountable,” TheNewsZenith quotes Itodo as saying.
Dr Akin Akingbolu, Executive Director, the Centre for Media and Society remarked that there was a need to educate the citizenry that democracy is a work in progress.
The Citizens’ Memorandum contains 37 recommendations under 15 objectives and covers 15 priority areas.
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