YIAGA Africa has expressed worries over voter inducement by political parties participating in the Ekiti state governorship election.
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YIAGA, in its third pre-election observation report for Ekiti, released, in Abuja also warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against conducting the election without effective deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

According to Yiaga, INEC cannot afford to fail with the deployment of technology, insisting that the BVAS achieved reasonable success in the Isoko-South 1 State Constituency bye-election in Delta State.

The report reads in part: “The report for the Ekiti election also revealed persistent voter inducement ongoing in the state. The report said, “Political party campaigns were observed across the state with more reports of voter inducement received.

“This is closely related to the increasing adoption of door-to-door campaigns making it easier for direct voter inducement.
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“YIAGA Africa calls on INEC to ensure effective deployment of the BVAS at the upcoming Governorship election in Ekiti state.

“While the BVAS achieved reasonable success in the Isoko-South 1 State Constituency bye-election in Delta State, their deployment in state-wide elections like the Anambra governorship election and the FCT area council election was marred with widespread reports of the BVAS not functioning adequately and experiencing other challenges which led to the extension of voting time on election day.

“The report says that the Ekiti election presents another opportunity for the assessment of the functionality of the BVAS and the capacity of INEC to resolve all challenges observed with the BVAS deployment in Anambra and FCT.

“The deployment of BVAS is particularly important because the new Electoral Act provides for the deployment of technological devices for accreditation of voters.
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“Similarly, INEC guidelines have made it mandatory to deploy the BVAS as the device now plays a central role in safeguarding elections and in guaranteeing that technical glitches do not disenfranchise every eligible voter who turns out to vote.”

YIAGA Africa reiterated that “INEC is responsible for ensuring that the BVAS functions optimally in the Ekiti state election.”

“This will need INECs commitment to ensuring the mock voter accreditation exercise to test the effectiveness of the BVAS is conducted ahead of the Ekiti election as stated during the quarterly stakeholders meeting held on May 11, 2022.”, the report said.

In this vein, it called on INEC to ensure the conduct of a mock voter accreditation exercise with the BVAS before its deployment for the Ekiti governorship election while encouraging the commission to increase its voter education/information efforts, especially in underserved communities.”
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