70 percent of elections under my watch conclusive, says INEC boss

Says Violence Responsible For Inconclusive Ones

The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu has debunked the insinuation that most of the elections conducted under his watch had been inconclusive, disclosing that about 70 per cent of elections he supervised were conclusive.

He said in the last eight months, INEC had conducted over 83 re-run elections, seven by-elections and three ends of tenure elections, of which, 58 were successfully concluded. Yakubu, who said this last week at the 12th All Nigerian Editors’ Conference, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, stated that the 22 inconclusive elections arose from the March 19 elections in Rivers, which all stakeholders agreed were marred by violence, demonstrated by the untimely death of a youth corps member.

“INEC is aware of the huge responsibilities on its shoulders. Let me assure this gathering that we take our responsibilities very seriously. We are constantly evolving innovative ways of improving our processes in order to strengthen the electoral system and make votes count. We will continue to introduce innovations into our electoral system, strengthen our training programme, as well as enhance our logistics and result management system based on international standards and best practices.”

He maintained that inconclusive elections were in areas, where violence took place, and that in instances where the Commission could not vouch for the credibility of the process or its outcome, elections were either cancelled in the entire constituency, relying on Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, or in selected Polling Units, relying on Section 53 of the Electoral Act, as amended.