MID-WEEK ESSAY BY MOBOLAJI E. ALUKO, PH.D.

 

10 Minimal Ways to Combat Rigging In 2007

 

alukome@gmail.com

Burtonsville , MD , USA

 

December 28, 2006

 

Prologue

 

The upcoming 2007 Elections will again be another "watershed" in Nigeria 's history: the signs are all over the place.  The stakes are so high that individuals and political parties will attempt to rig in ways unimaginable even in the 2003 elections, which were adjudged by most Nigeria watchers to be the most rigged set in Nigeria 's history; wherein  a Court of the land even cancelled hundreds of thousands of numbers of votes counted in the presidential elections.

 

So what to do to avert – or at least reduce – rigging in 2007 to the greatest extent possible?

Compatriots, we suggest  that EVERY INTEREST GROUP (political parties, non-governmental organizations and other civil society types, etc.) must, BEFORE, ON and AFTER  ELECTION DAY, do the following 10 MINIMAL steps outlined below.
 

 

Before Election Day

 

1. Ensure as MANY of their members as possible REGISTER to vote (VOTER MOBILIZATION).  Whether it is manual or electronic, validation or re-validation: just register to vote!
 

2. Ensure that INEC PUBLISHES the names of all registered voters, by state, local government and ward long enough BEFORE Election Day (according to the Electoral Law, this should be by the end of February 2007); ENSURE that their members check that their names are on the register; randomly test whether there are some "phantom" names on the register; and that those who do not find their names complain formally. Interest groups should be prepared to use the courts on behalf of their members. (VOTER AWARENESS)
 

3. Ensure that INEC publishes the LOCATIONS of all the polling stations ahead of time, and that their members know these locations. (VOTER EDUCATION).
 
 4. Ensure that we have on file the interest groups' POLLING AGENTS and POLLING AGENT ASSISTANTS - their names, pictures and IN PARTICULAR signatures (in the case of political parties) on file. [AGENT AUTHENTICATION] Note that we should have at 2 or 3 people per polling station.
 

5. Within 48 – 96 hours of Election Day, a BLANKET information blitz or saturation on voter education and vote protection steps should be carried out.  [VOTER EDUCATION]
 

6. Vigorously resist and ultimately reject any EMERGENCY police, army or electoral law that institutes CURFEW on Election Day.   Curfew is often instituted with the excuse that it reduces multiple voting. However, it is in fact a recipe for disabling the possibility of monitoring of the electoral process by as many people as possible. Instead of a curfew, a reasonable number of people -   say 50 - may be specified to be allowed within 100 meters of polling station, who can be periodically be replaced by others who may also wish to monitor. ANY CITIZEN should be allowed to be within 200 meters of any polling booths. [VOTING PROCESS VOTER-AUTHENTICATION]
 

 

 
  On Election Day
 
7. Ensure that, as allowed by the Electoral law, people are present when results are announced (record the announcement using audio tape) and displayed on BOARDS (take a picture of the boards using a digital camera). [VOTING PROCESS DOCUMENTATION].   We should be prepared to tender these in courts in the event of disputes.
 
 8. Ensure that the party's polling agents RELAY by cell phone the results' information, and if possible, a digital picture of the result display board. [VOTE COMMUNICATION]
A NEWSPAPER of the day should be photographed along with the board for date authentication.

 

9. As soon as possible, ensure that we some central offices are compiling all the results coming in - particularly the result display boards. [VOTING RESULTS SELF-COMPILATION]
 

 After Election Day
 

10. Ensure that there are rapid disclaimer teams in place in case any OFFICIAL results negate what has been compiled, or are bloated beyond the recorded number of voters. [RAPID ANTI-RIGGING INFORMATION DEPLOYMENT]
 

 

Epilogue

 

Of course, these steps can be supplemented by others, but we have to start thinking very deeply, my fellow citizens.

 

Will these steps completely eliminate rigging in 2007?  Probably not, but we must not be fatalistic and leave matters completely to chance!