YIAGA Africa said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) deployed in Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls in Nigeria functioned properly in 88 per cent of the polling units it monitored across the country. There are 176,606 polling units nationwide.
Yiaga Africa’s Watching The Vote in its preliminary findings released in
Abuja on Sunday, said it observed that BVAS was deployed for the accreditation of voters and matching of the results in the
99 per cent of the polling units its election observers monitored.
“In 88 per cent of polling
units, the BVAS functioned properly. However, in nine per cent of polling
units, the BVAS malfunctioned, and it was fixed and in two per cent of the polling
units, it malfunctioned and was replaced,” Yiaga Africa’s Chair, Watching The Vote Working Group, Dr. Hussaini Abdu and Executive Director, Samson Itodo said in the report.
YIAGA Africa stated further that on adherence to election
procedures and additional process findings, it observed that in 93 per cent of polling units, the details of registered voters
were systematically checked against the register of voters.
It noted however, that in over nine per
cent of polling units, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
polling officials were unprofessional and partisan, while they also
observed that the secrecy of ballots were not upheld as voting cubicles were
not provided.
While stating that
there were also attempts to influence polling officials in some instances, the
group said voting cubicles were not provided in five per cent of the polling
units, while in 13 per cent of the polling units, the set up did not comply
with the guidelines.
It said, “In five
per cent of polling units, there were no voting cubicles. Similarly, 13 per
cent of polling units were set up in way individuals could see how the voters
marked their ballot papers.”
On voter
intimidation, YIAGA Africa said its observers reported that it was only in five
per cent of the polling units that voters faced intimidation, harassment or
were assaulted, while situations that were identified as likely voter
inducement were observed at seven per cent of the monitored polling units.
The group added that its
observers took note of the presence of party agents across most of the polling
units. “During counting All Progressives Congress (APC) party agents were
sighted at 97 per cent of polling units; Labour Party (LP) polling agents were
sighted at 67 per cent of polling units; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
polling agents were sighted at 51 per cent of polling units, and People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) at 99 per cent of polling units,” YIAGA Africa stated.
On vote counting, they said they observed at
98 per cent of polling units that the polling officials obtained the number of
accredited voters from the BVAS and recorded it on form EC.8A and also showed
how every ballot paper was marked to the party agents.
As regards the transmission of
results at the polling
units’ level, Yiaga Africa Watching The Vote
PVT said the Presiding Officer at 83 per cent of monitored polling units used the BVAS to scan/take a snapshot of the
results sheet (Form EC 8A).
“In 69 per cent of polling units,
the Presiding Officer attempted to transmit/send the polling unit result image
to the INEC’s online database (IReV),” the group said.
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