By TINA TIMOTHY

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has identified 14 ways elections are rigged and citizens disenfranchised.

In a statement recently released in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, signed by its Principal Officers; Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche Esq. and Chidimma Udegbunam Esq, Intersociety pointed out, among other things, that elections could be rigged during voters’ registration as well as during Presidential and general elections.

According to the statement, election rigging and citizens’ disenfranchisement could occur as follows:

“Shrinking delineation of constituencies, registration and voting centers targeted at a particular ethno-religious group on the grounds of their tribe or religion,

“Inadequate manpower and machines for registration,

“Malfunctioning of registration/voting machines,

“Clandestine creation of registration and polling centers (flying centers) across borders for capturing of aliens as registered voters/voters in Nigeria with intent to artificially out-populate other members of the legitimate population and manipulate the demographic and electoral figures,

“Non-issuance or discriminatory issuance of PVCs to registered voters on the grounds of their ethnicity or religion,

“Registration of minors and aliens as voters with intent to roguishly out-populate other legitimate members of the general population,

“Official padding up on continuous basis of the voting figures of particular ethno-religious members of a segment of the general voting population with intent to continuously out-populate others and rig elections particularly the Presidential Poll in favor of the appointing authorities or institutions or favored another, and

“Organized violence against individual or group of citizens seeking to be captured or registered as voters so as to massively disenfranchise them on the grounds of their tribe and religion.”

Continuing, the group further noted that during Presidential and general elections, rigging and citizens’ disenfranchisement can also take place in the following scenarios:

“Militarization of election arenas so as to frighten voters and scare them away on the grounds of their tribe and religion,

“Instigation of group violence and other coordinated attacks against members of another voting population on the grounds of their faith and tribe for purpose of rigging them or their candidates out,

“System padding up of voting figures and inflation of results to favor another,

“System programmed failure of voting capturing machines targeted at opposition strong held areas for purpose of mass disenfranchisement of members of the affected voting population,

“Application of strict procedures in the South during voters’ registration and PVC distribution and relaxation of same including use of proxies such as District Heads in the North, and

“Application of strict procedures during Presidential Election in the South and relaxation of same including use of manual voting protected by group militancy (using radical ethno-religious groups) and security forces in the North.”

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