The 2024 Edo State governorship election has failed to meet the required standards of electoral integrity, according to a post-election statement released by Yiaga Africa on Monday, September 23, 2024......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The election observation group cited inconsistencies in the official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and instances of results manipulation during the collation process.
Yiaga Africa deployed its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the election, with 300 stationary and 25 roving observers covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 local government areas (LGAs) in Edo State. The group’s statistical analysis revealed discrepancies between the official results and their PRVT estimates, particularly in Oredo, Egor, and Esan West LGAs, indicating that the results were altered during collation.
The statement strongly condemned the actions of some biased INEC officials who altered figures during collation and the interference of some security officials in the collation process. Yiaga Africa noted that the disruption of collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs created opportunities for election manipulation, undermining the credibility and integrity of the results.
Despite the logistical challenges and low voter turnout of 22.4%, Yiaga Africa commended the resilience of voters who turned out to exercise their civic rights. The group called for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers engaged in results manipulation and flagrant violations of the guidelines on results collation.
Yiaga Africa also urged INEC to clarify the inconsistencies in the results and issue detailed guidelines for exercising its powers to review declarations and returns made contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, regulations, and guidelines. The group emphasized the need for the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory, thereby conferring legality on polling unit level results uploaded on the IReV portal.
In conclusion, Yiaga Africa stated that the 2024 Edo governorship election failed the electoral integrity test due to the lack of transparency in the results collation process, which led to the manipulation of results. The group called for fundamental electoral reforms to restore public confidence in the electoral process and urged political actors to change their attitude towards politics.