INEC And Electronic Democracy

By

Barrister Festus Okoye

The most challenging aspect of civil society work at this period of Nigerian democracy is drawing and mapping out an accurate road map to the 2007 elections. The panic, the nervousness and the breathless anticipation of the 2007 date has nothing to do with whether the date will disappear from world or electoral calendar of the Nigerian nation. The Nigerian people know that 2007 will arrive. They know that its arrival is imminent and that they have no power, mandate or authority to stop the date from arriving. The Nigerian people also know that the only power that can prevent the date from arriving is through divine intervention and this is completely outside the control of mere mortals.

The near panic of the Nigerian people with the anticipated arrival of the 2007 date is rooted and hinged on various factors that are distinct and at the same time interrelated. Any one of the factors can, on its own, if not properly managed impact negatively on the electoral fortunes of the Nigerian people. Managing these variegated factors to minimize their negative impact on the electoral geography of Nigeria is the biggest challenge facing all patriotic stakeholders in the Nigerian project.

Unfortunately, a section of the Nigerian political class and amazingly the Electoral Management Agency do not seem to appreciate the anxiety of the Nigerian people over these issues or at worst pretending to understand them and at the same time acting out a script to arrive at a pre determined outcome. Whichever way the pendulum swings, 2007 will arrive and their will be an outcome. The question is whether the outcome will be in accordance with the law and the Constitution or whether it will be pre determine irrespective of the law and the Constitution. The indices however point at a pre determined outcome of the 2007 elections.

The first level of electoral manourvre to achieve a pre determined outcome relates to the state of the Electoral Law and the crusading zeal with which the Electoral Management Agency is pursuing the introduction of the Electronic Voting Machine to the Nigerian political landscape. Nobody disputes the fact that the Nigerian electoral system must begin to move from manual systems to electronic voting systems. There is a near consensus on this all important point. The point of disagreement relates to the timing of the introduction of the Electronic Voting Machine and the level of preparations required before its introduction. These points have not been adequately addressed and satisfactorily too. Positing therefore that the ordinary Nigerians in the villages are enthusiastic about the use of an equipment that they have not seen, tested or operated can only remain at the level of propaganda. It is not scientific and cannot be backed with facts and data.

The Electoral Management Agency knows that there are various brands of Electronic Voting Machines in the market. Some of the machines are targeted at countries with a high level of technological and scientific development. Others are specifically manufactured for developing countries with difficult terrains and a crooked political elite. The Nigerian people are therefore insisting that whichever version of the Electronic Voting Machine is chosen must be tested using small bye elections to see whether they suit the Nigerian environment. It must also be tested to make sure that a section of the political class that have perfected the corruption of the Nigerian electoral system using the paper ballot do not already have the scientific and technological mechanism to decode the system. These are the concerns of the Nigerian people and these concerns are real.

Coterminous to the concerns raised regarding the Electronic Voting Machine relates to the state of the Electoral Law. The National Assembly is still working on the Electoral Bill submitted to them by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Based on this, the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot roll out a comprehensive timeline for pre-election, election and after-election activities. It is also not disputed that the Electoral Bill submitted to the National Assembly is based on the paper ballot. Why then is the Independent National Electoral Commission packaging the Electronic Voting Machine while the Bill before the National Assembly envisages the conduct of elections using the paper ballot?

It is true that the Electoral Bill authorizes the Independent National Electoral Commission to use and or introduce technology to its operations. It is also true that the voters register and some other operations of the Electoral Management Agency are based on the use of electronic devises. The point is that the Electoral Management Agency is not making allowance for the rejection by the National Assembly of the Electronic Voting Machine for the 2007 elections. The Agency is also not envisaging that on the state of the Electoral Bill, its passage will also require additional amendment to almost all its provisions to accommodate the Electronic Voting Machine. This is because the entire Electoral Bill that is before the National Assembly is premised on the paper ballot. An omnibus provision making a consequential amendment to the passed Law will not clean up the Law and make it usable for elections and the electoral process. The entire Electoral Act must be redrafted to accommodate the Electronic Voting Machine. Any other route will breed confusion for the political parties, Electoral Officers, the candidates for various elections and Election petitions Tribunals.

Confusion is therefore the logical outcome of the insistence of the Electoral Management Agency at using the Electronic Machine for the 2007 elections. Time is flying and the National Assembly is still playing politics with the passage of the Electoral Bill. Time is flying and the Independent National Electoral Commission has not rolled out a comprehensive time line for the conduct of the 2007 elections. Time is flying and the Electoral Management Agency is making preparations based on a machine that has not been approved by the National Assembly. Time is flying and the Electoral Management Agency is gerrymandering at using a machine that has not been tested using any elections. Time is flying and nobody has been trained on the use of the machines. The logical deduction is that the Electoral Management Agency is working on a pre determine outcome. This pre determined outcome falls perfectly within the framework of the campaign for a third term for the incumbent government. The Electronic Voting Machine is therefore part of the complex web being perfected for the third term agenda of the present regime.

The truth is that nobody is sure whether there will be elections in 2007. Some hired hands within and outside the National Assembly are working assiduously at tinkering with the 1999 Constitution to provide for a third term for the President. The flip side of the permutations is to use the Electoral Act, the Electronic Voting Machine and the release of funds to the Electoral Management Agency to create the sort of confusion that will make elections impossible and create the basis for the continuation of civilian dictatorship.

All the signs are there for sceptics to see. The re- validation of the membership of the Peoples Democratic Party is part of the strategy. The near capture of the entire machinery of the Party by loyalists of the President is part of the third term strategy. The compilation of the economic and financial dossier of serving Governors, members of the National and State Houses of Assembly is part of the third term strategy.

The tragedy in all this is that opposition political parties are too weak to pose any real threat or challenge to the ruling party. The disenchanted faction of the Peoples Democratic Party may also be bugged down by infighting to pose any real challenge to the threat of civilian dictatorship that is starring all in the face.

Painting the exact picture of what will happen in 2007 is therefore very difficult. The President and his Governors may go out rightly for a third term through a dubious constitutional amendment irrespective of the feelings of the Nigerian people and the opposition of the international Community. The President and his strategists may also create maximum confusion in the country using the Electoral Management Agency as a decoy that will make it impossible to have elections in 2007. The President may also insist on foisting a clone on the Nigerian people. Whichever direction he goes will have far reaching consequences on the survival of democracy in Nigeria.

The key to free, fair and transparent elections rests with the President and the Electoral Management Agency. The National Assembly, if it is not too late in the day must provide for an Electoral Management Agency that is theoretically and practically free from manipulation by the government, civil society, the international community and big business. At another level, the President must make a public commitment to the Nigerian people that as a statesman he wants to provide a level playing ground for all political parties to bid for power. He must dispel his interest in the third term bid or in the imposition of a clone on the Nigerian people. Opposition political parties must also come out of their atomised shells and fuse into one cohesive and progressive political party that can bid for power in the true sense of the word. Alliances and coalitions will not work in the face of a rampaging civilian dictatorship.

On its part, civil society groups must realize that it is not easy to map out the road to the 2007 elections. The road is full of thorns and turns. It is full of gullies and contours. Mapping it will require multi layered and multi faceted strategies with the requisite flexibility to take on board the unexpected. It requires a deep and clear understanding of the forces at play, their modus operandi and their long term plans and vision. It requires a pro active anticipation of their goals and the interception of their weapons. In other words, arriving at the 2007 elections with minimum collateral damage to Nigerian democracy will require good organisational strategy.

Protecting the peoples mandate will require education, enlightenment and awareness. It requires grassroots work. It requires mobilizing the Nigerian people for active non violent resistance to electoral fraud and manipulation. The means and mechanism of doing this is the challenge facing the Nigerian civil society.

Barrister Festus Okoye

Executive Director

Human Rights Monitor

November 26, 2005