Fifteen political parties and five presidential candidates
participating in the forth coming elections, yesterday, opposed the
proposed use of card readers in accrediting voters by the Independent
National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the elections.
The aggrieved parties and candidates, said the use of the electronic
devices would not only be against the 19Card-Readers199 Constitution but
also the 2010 Electoral Act (As amended) which proscribed electronic
voting in the country.
They, therefore, threatened not to participate in the elections if the
INEC insists on using card readers, saying they “observed some obvious
but dangerous developments in the proposed use of card readers” by the
commission for the conduct of the elections.
At a press conference in Abuja, the parties and candidates, speaking
through spokesperson and Acting National Chairman of Advanced Congress
of Democrats, ACD, Dr Onwubuya Breakforth, said “these important
observation, if not well considered by the commission, has the
propensity to derail the 2015 polls.”
Reading a prepared text to newsmen, Dr Breakforth, said: “The card
reader is a device which is susceptible to manipulations to favour
particular candidates and in the process, disenfranchise many registered
Nigerian voters or potential election winners.”
He added: “The concept of using card readers for these coming elections
as being planned by INEC, has a lot of implications which may negatively
impact on the conduct of a credible, free and fair elections on March
28 and April 11.
“The first drawback is that this device is relatively a new technology
that has not been tested or tried in a kind of mock election or previous
formal elections prior to this time. This would have enabled the nation
and the electoral umpire itself, to properly ascertain its workability
and efficiency in the conduct of the real general elections.
“The decision by INEC to commence the test-run of the use of Card
Readers in some of select states across the country on Saturday March 7,
2015, just less than three weeks to the commencement of the
re-scheduled election, would not provide the commission enough time to
rectify whatever anomaly that would likely arise from that exercise.
He noted that if the card reader should develop some technical problems,
there was a possibility that the consequences of such development would
affect about forty fifty percent of the polling booths nationwide.
“Because of the tendency of the card reader device to develop some
technical fault any time during the voters accreditation process, that
was the reason why all the political parties agreed with INEC recently,
that the election should be postponed in polling booths where a
substantial number of card reader defaults were recorded because it
would disrupt the entire election process. That goes to show that the
card reader cannot be fully trusted for the conduct of the election.
“The case of Senators Chris Ngige and Enyinnaya Abaribe, whose bonafide
voters cards were not captured by the card reader device was a clear
case of the technical fault which the card reader is susceptible to,”he
added.
He stressed that the card reader was already programmed for particular
polling booths and the device was supposed to be used for that
particular polling unit which it was programmed, regretting that so far,
that has not been the case.”
Three of the political parties leaders who signed the statement on
behalf of the parties include, the national chairman of the MEGA
Progressive Peoples Party, MPPP, Prince Dare Falade, presidential
candidate, Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN, Prince Dr Kelvin Chinedu Opumu
Alagoa, Alliance for Democracy, AD, Dr. Rafiu Salau.
2015 Elections: 15 political parties, 5 presidential candidates threaten boycott over card readers
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Oleh
healthandwealth
