In this piece, BODE OLAGOKE examines the justifications for the new polling units across the country being proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Background
It is a fact that the last time polling units were established in Nigeria was 25 years ago, specifically in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON).
Then, 119,973 polling units were created to serve a projected population of about 50 million voters.
The electoral empire has tried to expand voter access to polling units in 2007, 2014 and before the 2019 general election but these attempts were unsuccessful because of a number of reasons which include handling the matter administratively, too close to general elections, misunderstanding, politicisation and lack of proper consultations with relevant stakeholders.
However, learning from the previous experience, the commission, under the leadership of Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, seems to be more prepared for the task ahead.
The body has now decided to engage with Nigerians by consulting widely and working hard in the last two months and produced a discussion paper entitled “The State of Voter Access to Polling Units in Nigeria”, prepared satellite imageries of the location of polling units across the country as well as pictures and videos to demonstrate the difficulties faced by voters on Election Day.
Concept of participatory democracy
For a democratic system of government to be participatory enough, it implies access has to be created for broad participation of the electorate.
Etymological roots of democracy (Greek demos and kratos) implied that the people are in power and thus that all democracies are participatory.
However, participatory democracy tends to advocate more of citizen participation and greater political representation than traditional representative democracy.
If inadequate polling units therefore deny citizens opportunity to actively participate in a democracy, such cannot be termed participatory democracy.
Problems of inadequate polling units
Inadequacy of polling units implies that many voters may be deprived of their fundamental human rights in a democratic system of government, the voters are overcrowded during elections, which is a recipe for delays, disruptions, violence and apathy.
Experiences across the country have, however, shown that overcrowding though varies from one area to another due to uneven growth in population but practically all polling units have experienced increased population of voters.
Apart from overcrowding, other reasons to create new polling units include; population growth, difficulty terrain, conflict, demographic shifts, establishment of new settlements and residential areas, among others.
Over the years, many polling units have exceeded the designated figure of 500 voters per polling unit by a couple of thousands while some had over 4,000 registered voters, justifying the need for new polling units.
“More serious in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because the constricted spaces available at polling units do not support the necessary social distancing recommended by health authorities.”
Requests for polling units
As at October 2020, the numbers of official requests for the establishment of new polling units stand at 5,747, even as more requests are being submitted daily to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
For example, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja is requesting for establishment 74 new Polling Units, Anambra 56, Adamawa 14, Akwa Ibom 15, Bauchi 2, Bayelsa 51, Benue 108, Delta 138, Kebbi 270, Borno 1,235, Lagos 29, Niger 1,042, Ogun 239, Oyo 346, Rivers 550, Abia 79 among others.
According to INEC, polling units (PUs) constitute the basic structure of Nigeria’s electoral system and democracy.
They are the nerve centres at which voters make contact with the commission during elections. As such, it is exceedingly important that polling units are not only ready and conducive to receive voters, but that they should be well-organized and secure for the beehive of activities that occur in them on election day.
“Indeed, well-organized and efficiently run polling units are emblematic of the quality of the entire election ecosystem. voter access to polling units is therefore fundamental to our elections and democracy at large.”
INEC’s plan
Announcing the plan to establish new polling units, INEC through a statement signed in Abuja by National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye said in the next few weeks, the commission would be engaging other stakeholders including political parties, civil society organizations, religious leaders, traditional institutions, labour unions, socio-cultural organizations and the various arms of governments to fashion out how best to approach the initiative.
The statement said: “For several weeks, the Commission has been preparing for these national engagements to address the inadequacies of Polling Units in Nigeria and the challenges they pose to election management. This is a national problem that calls for national consensus.”
Consultations
The electoral umpire has, however, begun the process with consultations with the political parties, the Arewa Consultative Forum, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the media, National Assembly, Federal Executive Council FEC, Labour unions, National Economic Council (NEC) members, the Civil Society Organisations among other stakeholders to make them see the need for more polling units to be created.
Speaking at the weekend during the first consultative meeting with political parties for the year 2021 to among others brainstorm on modalities of creating additional PUs in the country, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said that previous attempts at creating additional polling units (PUs) failed because they were handled administratively and the timings also close to General Elections.
According to him, experience has shown that enhanced voter access to polling units increases turnout in elections and that not surprisingly, many countries expand access to polling units with every fresh registration of voters while others do so routinely or before every general election.
Yakubu said that increase in voter population, emergence of new settlements, urbanisation, distance to existing polling units, difficult terrain and other factors require constant review to give the voter a pleasant experience on Election Day.
He added that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to decongest polling units to minimise overcrowding and reduce the long distances voters often travel in overcrowded means of transport in order to vote during elections.
“Today, the number of registered voters is 84,004,084 and is set to rise after we resume Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the 2023 General Election. Yet, the number of polling units remains static. In fact, the biggest category of registered voters on our database (aged 18 to 25 years) were not even born when the current polling units were established a quarter of a century ago.
Also speaking, the National Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr. Leonard Nzenwa, said that the importance of additional PUs in the country would be in the best interest of democracy and national development of the country.”
On his part, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Electoral Operations, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, said that voter access to PUs goes beyond their establishment but also entails their locations in accessible places and ensuring that the environment of each PUs guarantees observance of the commission’s guidelines.
The fears
Political analysts are of the opinion that why some many requests for the establishment of new PUs are genuine, the INEC is advised against politicisation and attempt by unscrupulous politicians to turn it to rigging machines.
One of the analysts, Jude Opara, said the electoral umpire should bear in mind that there will be an urgent need for recruitment of more competent hands, deploying for security agents among other expectations.
Conclusion
Not minding the few aforementioned fears, general opinions are, however, in support of creation of new PUs across the country to make voting easier and devoid of overcrowding and unnecessary delay during elections.
