e-voting will not necessarily lead to better polls; what matters is the politicians’ attitude
Former President Goodluck Jonathan just added his voice to those urging Nigeria to embrace e-voting as the ultimate system for elections in Nigeria. Coming on the heels of federal and state inauguration ceremonies of the President, the vice president and some governors in Nigeria, we hope that this again raises the template for the right legal and political actions to be taken to actualise a system that has been embraced by countries desirous of true democracy.
E-voting is a voting system that uses electronic and internet means to either aid or take care of casting, counting, tabulation and transmission of votes in an election. Like all man-made technological processes, the system is not totally fool-proof but it substantially helps and has helped most developed and developing nations conduct fairly credible elections.
However, while we commend the former President who now appears as an unofficial Nigerian ambassador for peaceful elections, given the global applause he got for conceding defeat as an incumbent in 2015 to an opposition party which, by all standards seemed a rare action in Africa, his proposal is commendable but there are legal, electoral and constitutional issues that must precede a holistic adoption of the process.
The political class must be seen to be ready to work towards the e-voting through a dedicated effort to amend the relevant laws with sincerity of purpose. The 1993 general elections that stand as a watershed in the history of elections in Nigeria were not done through e-voting. Yet, they have been the freest and fairest election in Nigeria and is the reason June 12 has now been confirmed the new Democracy Day in the country.
Flawed elections in Nigeria seem not to be purely a problem of the process but the political class seems to have been sabotaging the democratic processes. The fact that Nigeria has the most litigious post-election cases in the world is traceable to very flawed party process of choosing candidates, from ward congresses to party primaries, where most candidates’ emergence appears flawed because of very contentious pre-election activities influenced by politicians with financial muscle and the levers of violence. The struggle to win general elections is the main reason violence happens because there are always pushbacks from those who feel a sense of injustice.
The idea of rigging therefore happens because politicians that are unpopular try to manipulate their way to victory. If truly democracy gives the people the power as mandate givers, no single or group of politicians can steal the mandate from the people. So, an introspection by politicians in Nigeria should be the first step. An electoral process is as good as the people that drive it.
The current process used in Nigerian elections is as shameful as it is unworkable in this age. A situation where the country has no credible census, no streamlined process of voter registration, permanent voter card issuance and no near-perfect functional card reader machines across the country is not good for democracy. The issue of electricity, illiteracy and the geography of the country must also be sorted out if e-voting is to be a success.
The former president also advised that the election management body and election tribunal members must be constituted not by a single person but by a neutral body which he advised must be an African Union mandate not only for Nigeria but for the whole of Africa. Laudable as this appears, we feel that Nigeria with its leadership position, albeit with the defective electoral processes must initiate electoral changes in ways that other smaller nations can emulate. Electoral offenders must be seen to be prosecuted and punished, if guilty , to serve as a deterrent.
Any system is as good as the people that drive it. Politicians must improve the process through the amendment or enactment of relevant laws backed with the necessary infrastructure to power the process. Nigerian politicians must grow up and move away from revelling in the assumption that our democracy would remain eternally nascent. If India and China with their population can hold almost flawless elections, Nigeria must step up to its reputation as the giant of the black race through the adoption of modern methods that enhance transparency and speed, but more importantly a renewed will by politicians to do the right thing.
