INEC adopts modified open ballot system.Dumps teachers, civil servants for electoral duties

Election materials for the general election in April polls.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adopted the Modified Open Ballot System (MOBS) for the conduct of next month’s elections. Also, the commission has dumped the old practice of using primary school teachers and states’ civil servants for the conduct of elections. INEC resolved that teachers and civil servants at the state level were “agents of rigging and other electoral malpractices.” The electoral umpire noted that being on the payroll of the state governments, they were vulnerable to politicians and could easily be influenced to subvert the wishes of the electorate. It also resolved to use officials of Federal Government’s parastatals and employ National Youth Service Corps members when necessary.

The commission decided that supervisory polling officers (SPOs) be appointed to monitor wards during elections, while the polling officers (PO) and polling assistants (PA) should be responsible to SPOs. These were parts of the major decisions of the retreat organised for the resident electoral commissioners in Abuja on Thursday. The retreat, which ended on Friday, was attended by INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and other principal officers of the commission. A REC, who spoke to our correspondent on Sunday on the outcome of the retreat, said the MOBS was adopted for the conduct of the elections after extensive considerations and deliberations. Our source said that the management of INEC noted that MOBS would frustrate electoral malpractices and guarantee the right and independence of voters to secretly make their choice during elections. He stated that it was a modified version of the Option A4 ballot system used in the 1993 elections. However, unlike the 1993 model which lacked secrecy during voting, MOBS allows a voter to secretly exercise his civic obligation. The source added that while accreditation and release of ballot papers to a voter could be done openly, the voter would thereafter retire to a secret place to exercise his franchise.

According to him, accreditation and voting will take place simultaneously nationwide, with a policeman standing behind the last person on the queue during accreditation. He said votes would be counted and announced at the polling units. Also, the results will be entered into Form EC40, which will be signed by representatives of the various political parties, security agents, INEC officials and other relevant stakeholders and pasted at the voting unit. Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, confirmed that the commission would not seek the services of teachers and civil servants for the conduct of the election. Idowu said only corps members would be deployed in the conduct of the elections. On MOBS, Idowu disclosed that INEC was considering the open secret ballot for the conduct of the April elections in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act. "INEC is drawing additional guidelines to strengthen the process and make it more transparent, by ensuring that accreditation and voting start the same time across the federation," Idowu added.