Contributing to credible elections and good governance in Bayelsa State of the Niger Delta
January 2019-June 2020
Summary
This project is seeking to improve the credibility, fairness, and freedom of state-level elections in Bayelsa, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) for the period of 18 months in Bayelsa State. SDN will support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manage polling activity and monitor the activities of political party agents. Political party agents often interfere with voting by intimidating voters they think may vote for another party, or by giving voters money to vote for their party. Both these activities undermine the credibility, fairness, and freedom of elections. SDN will also brief party political agents directly on what they are allowed and not allowed to do—and sensitise police to their permitted behaviour so they can be held to account for breaches of conduct. Lastly, and in partnership with the Bayelsa Non-Governmental Organisation Forum (BANGOF), SDN will coordinate a public information campaign, aimed at promoting voter awareness and motivation. By reaching out to all parties involved, SDN hopes to reduce interference with the proper conduct of the Bayelsa state elections. The Bayelsa state election is slated for 16th November 2019, off-cycle to the majority of state elections held in Nigeria in early March 2019. These elections have previously been marred by widespread malpractice, partially attributed to poor oversight.
Aims
The goal of this project is to improve the credibility, fairness, and freedom of state-level off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, as a key step towards improving the participation in, and representativeness and accountability of, democracy in the state.
Key activities
- Train INEC’s ad hoc staff on election oversight and administration procedures at polling units on election day to identify, respond and report malpractice —particularly in areas of Bayelsa at risk of fraud and violence.
- Support INEC and the police to register political party agents, as well as sensitise political party agents as to their permitted conduct over the election period.
- Partner with BANGOF to deliver face-to-face education to voters in areas at risk of ‘vote buying and selling’ (Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, and Sagbama local government areas) about the negative effect this has on democracy in Nigeria.
- Carry out a campaign over social media and broadcast radio aiming to sensitise 170,000 citizens to the negative effects on democracy from selling or otherwise transferring their vote, and support citizens to participate safely in the election.
Context
Bayelsa state receives a comparatively large federal budget allocation, as part of the formula for sharing the revenue for oil and gas production This budget attracts particularly fierce competition over winning political office, a competition that typically involves ex-militants, cult groups, security forces, politicians, and party agents, amongst others. In the past, some areas of state elections in Bayelsa have been marred by electoral violence and malpractice–often at the hands of unregistered party agents–such as vote-buying around polling stations. Malpractice, like vote buying, flourishes due to an apathy amongst voters willing to sell their votes, and poor—or non-existent—training and sensitisation of INEC officials and police responsible for challenging this malpractice around polling stations on election day. The Bayelsa state election is slated for 16th November 2019.
Project results
The project achieved the following results:
- Increased Citizens’ Participation in the 2019 Bayelsa State Gubernatorial Poll
The project intensified and amplified civic and voter education through robust engagements with critical stakeholders (youth, women, men, PwDs, and traditional leaders) in 27 communities in Ogbia, Sagbama and Southern Ijaw; as well as sensitizing other publics through weekly radio programming and periodic stakeholders’ meetings. These engagements contributed to an increase in the rate of voter turnout from 34.11% in 2015 to 57.52% in 2019. This is a testament to the fact that when citizens are more aware of their political rights and duties via strategic sensitization, they tend to participate more in the electoral, governance and development processes.
- Collaboration with Key Project Stakeholders
INEC (Headquarters-Abuja) authorized its office in Bayelsa to participate in the project which led to a significant improvement in SDN’s relationship with the institution and other stakeholders such as the security agencies and the political party agents of the INEC office in Bayelsa. The project succeeded in building and nurturing a thriving collaborative multi-stakeholder platform which eased interfacing and engagements with INEC, security agencies, Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) resulting in prompt responses to election-related issues. This
platform was structured in a manner that will outlive the life-cycle of the project, and will be useful in future election seasons.
- Improved capacity of INEC staff through training
INEC permanent staff reported increased knowledge and skills to train INEC ad – hoc personnel effectively on election processes and procedures as demonstrated in the anecdotes in sub – section 11. This was based on feedback from the post-tests conducted for those who went through the training. 75% of INEC staff demonstrated improved knowledge of and ability to deliver election training curriculum to temporary INEC staff.
- Increased confidence in the electoral umpire
This was achieved through constant sensitization sessions organized for members of political parties at the local government and state levels where their agents and leaders pledged their commitment to adhere to electoral rules and regulations that governed the conduct of 2019 Bayelsa governorship election. They promised not to be used by their leaders to disrupt the poll but to abide by the rules of engagement to support the security agencies to identify and report incidents of malpractice. This was evident in the near zero incident of electoral violence recorded on the day of the gubernatorial poll in the State.
Funder
Partner
