TheCable

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to clarify the status of locations where voting did not hold in the off-cycle polls.

On Saturday, off-season polls took place in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo states.

Through its Watching The Vote (WTV) initiative, Yiaga said its observers in Imo state say elections did not take place in 12% of sampled polling units.

The CSO said these cases were prevalent in Orsu, Okigwe, Oru East, and Orlu LGAs.

Yiaga said it monitored the upload of results on the IReV, especially those from polling units where elections did not hold.

For Orsu LGA in Imo, Yiaga Africa’s WTV observers reported that the election did not take place in nine sampled polling units in the LGA.

There were speculations that INEC may have relocated all polling units to the LGA headquarters on election day.

Yiaga Africa said voters in Orsu LGA were not informed of the change in polling unit location and INEC failed to issue an official statement on the supposed temporary relocation of polling units.

In Okigwe LGA in Imo State, Yiaga Africa observers reported that elections did not occur in eight sampled polling units.

“In Oru East LGA, the election was not held in eight of Yiaga Africa’s sampled polling units,” the CSO added.

“In addition, elections were not held in seven of our sampled polling units in Orlu LGA and in one (1) of our sampled polling units each in Ideato North, Ikeduru, Oru West and Owerri West LGAs.”

Yiaga called on INEC to investigate these scenarios.

“Yiaga is concerned with the upload of results form EC8A for some of the sampled polling units where elections were not conducted in Orsu, Oru East, Oru West, Ideato North, Ikeduru and Okigwe LGAs on the IReV,” it said.

“To ensure transparency and to protect the integrity of the process, Yiaga Africa calls on the INEC to clarify the status of voting across polling units in Orsu, Okigwe, Oru East and Orlu LGAs in Imo state.

“Additionally, INEC should investigate the report of likely election malpractices in these polling units, especially for locations where results have been uploaded on the IReV without the conduct of accreditation and voting.”