Political Parties allegedly violated the electoral Act in 14 LGAs during Osun Election
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) said on Saturday that political parties and their representatives had broken the Electoral Act in 14 Local Government Areas while its 300 accredited observers were gathering information on crucial parts of the governorship election in Osun state.
The Center claimed that during voting, parties carried on their campaigning and canvassing for votes in LGAs close to the polling places while INEC officials allegedly turned a blind eye to the violations.
The majority of the violations of the Electoral Act 2022 were reported in Ife Central, Odo Otin, Osogbo, Oriade, and Irepodun, according to CDD’s first preliminary briefing on the election.
The organization also claimed to have documented political actors’ denials and affirmations of allegations of vote-buying.
An interim report signed by the Chair of CDD’s Election Analysis Centre (EAC), Prof. Adele Jinadu, which was read before journalists in Abuja, stated: “Our observers reported cases of political party agents campaigning, and canvassing for votes near the polling unit in 14 LGAs, which represents 9.6 percent of the polling units observed.
“These acts which contravene the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 were mostly reported by observers in Ife Central, Odo Otin, Osogbo, Oriade, and Irepodun.
“CDD-EAC observers also reported seeing unremoved campaign posters at some polling units, just as political party agents openly canvassed for votes.
“Several fake news stories, misleading captions for images, and the sharing of dead online links were also being used by partisan actors to mislead voters or to possibly depress the vote in areas in which the political opposition is perceived to have some strengths.”
The Centre said pockets of disputes between party agents and INEC officials were also reported by its observers in some polling units; adding that these incidents were largely resolved. The Center noted that adequate measures had been put in place to ensure peaceful voting.
The logistics planning for the Ekiti off-cycle election held last month showed a noticeable improvement, according to the CDD-EAC, which also praised the election officials’ punctuality and the early arrival of voting supplies.
“CDD-EAC notes that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took some steps to address some of the gaps identified in the Ekiti State governorship election last month,” the organisation stated.
