2011 Nigeria National Elections
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ECOMMENDATIONS
IRI's observation of Nigeria's 2011 national elections, along with its continued implementation of
US-funded programs for strengthening civil society and political participation in Nigeria, provide a
basis for making recommendations on how Nigeria can improve its electoral institutions and
processes. IRI has formulated recommendations following every national electoral cycle in Nigeria
since the 1999 transition to democracy. This set of recommendations builds on past
recommendations, as well as areas of weakness identified in 2011.
Recommendation 1: Nigeria should revisit the recommendations of the Electoral Reform
Committee that were not adopted by the national assembly.
Prior to the next election cycle, key stakeholders—INEC, the national assembly, political
parties and civil society leaders—should open new discussions about the recommendations
of the Electoral Reform Commission and the Uwais Report in the context of the 2011
elections in order to determine if views have changed on any of the recommendations that
previously were not adopted. In particular, the establishment of an electoral offences
commission and a political parties commission should be considered. A discussion of new
ideas and recommendations that have arisen in retrospect of the 2011 elections should also
take place.
Recommendation 2
:
Improve the voter list to ensure people are properly registered
.
INEC should embark on continuous voter verification and registration in accordance with
the 2010 Electoral Act, with a target start date well prior to the 2015 national elections
(ideally by mid-2014). This will free up staff and resources in the months immediately
approaching the elections to focus on preparations for the scheduled election days. If
correctly managed, a continuous voter registration system would also allow INEC the
possibility of avoiding the high costs associated with conducting voter registration under an
extremely short timeframe, political pressure and uncertainty related to election dates.
Recommendation 3: Strengthen civic education so all Nigerians fully understand the nature
of the election process and their role.
INEC and other agencies of the national government should emphasize the need for
mainstreaming civic education in the Nigerian school curriculum, from primary to university
level. Nigeria's government and electoral processes should be integrated into relevant
courses at universities and ways for civil society to help improve voter and civic education
outside of schools should also be explored.
Recommendation 4: Create incentives for the political parties to evolve into constructive
actors in the process, respecting democratic values in their internal behavior and
commitment to transparent elections.
As a first step toward improving internal democracy in future elections, INEC should strictly
enforce current laws and take a more active role in organizing and adjudicating the political
party primaries at the national, state and local level. This includes asking the national
assembly to revisit the amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act that requires INEC to accept
all nominations provided by political parties and prevents INEC from barring names or
sanctioning parties that do not follow the rules related to party primaries.
