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Ahead of the November 11 Imo governorship elections, the Coalition of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, accredited observer groups, on Thursday, expressed worries that “voter awareness is very low” in Imo state.
They disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri while speaking on the pre-election exercise conducted by the group in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the group made up of 25 observer groups, Comrade Victor Kalu, of the Grassroot Development and Peace Initiative, said in order to change the narrative that; “The political parties should also engage in civic voter mobilisation as a proactive way of campaigns.
“Having carefully concluded our pre-election assessment and opinion poll exercise in Imo state ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship polls.
“Our team paid courtesy visits to some participating political party leaders and stakeholders, had several meetings with INEC, management and security agencies on their preparedness, where we received assurances that there will be a peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the election.
“Following the introduction of the Bi-modal voter accreditation system, BIVAS) some desperate politicians who could no longer write results within the comfort of their sitting rooms now resort to carrying physical cash to polling units, consequently, this has given rise to what is now referred to, as vote buying and selling, a trend that has become a sore point in our democratization process.”
However, he said that the group observed “That strong and formidable opposition political parties are seriously campaigning and mobilizing to challenging to upstaged the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state during polls, this has made the election very interesting. We observed that the level of voter awareness for the elections is very low especially in rural areas due to inadequate voter sensitization by both the political parties, stakeholders and the election management body, EMB.
“The election management body, INEC, must be above board, by providing a level playing ground to all the political parties and must be seen to be so.
“Also, the Nigeria police force is the lead agency in maintaining internal security and ensuring a peaceful electoral process. The military as well as other para-military agencies.”
