VI. GENERAL ELECTION PREPARATIONS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has faced strong criticism, along with a good deal of court litigation, since it began planning for the 2003 elections.¹⁹⁰ INEC was accused of being under the control of President Obasanjo and the ruling PDP as the party registration process, the registration of voters, and the finalization of an election schedule were all dogged with delay and controversy. In 1999, elections were plagued with rigging, intimidation and violence, but the response of many critics, including in the international community, was muted by the desire to support the transition from military to civilian rule. There were hopes that by 2003, democratic institutions would be strong enough to prevent some of the problems that beset earlier elections. Unfortunately, INEC does not appear to have satisfied those expectations. Although this report does not attempt to provide an overview of election preparations, it will review some of the issues that have arisen in the pre-election period. While many of the problems have related to "mere" issues of procedure, any confusion or lack of transparency in the pre-election period can nourish a fertile ground of disappointed expectations and complaints of unjust treatment, with the accompanying potential for violence.

In June 2002, INEC recognized only three new parties, the United Nigeria People's Party (UNPP), the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and the National Democratic Party (NDP), in addition to the three parties that had been allowed by the military to compete in the 1999 elections, namely the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the All People's Party (APP, later renamed the All Nigeria People's Party, ANPP, due to a factional split), and the Alliance for Democracy (AD). The basis for INEC's decision was unclear, and dozens of smaller political associations challenged their exclusion in court. In December 2002 INEC finally agreed to recognize twenty-four additional parties. While this move was widely welcomed by the opposition and civil society in Nigeria, it came perhaps too late to allow the new parties to compete fairly with the established parties.

In addition to certifying new parties, INEC is also charged with monitoring and auditing the political parties' electoral campaigns and operations.¹⁹¹ In line with this requirement, it has helped the political parties to create a code of conduct, which was distributed in March 2003. While it came too late to affect parties' behavior at earlier stages of the process including primaries, this code of conduct could be a step in the direction of setting uniform standards, but its effectiveness will depend on the will of political parties to abide by it. At the meeting where it was released, only nine out of the thirty registered parties signed on. By the end of March, four parties still had not signed on.¹⁹²

The process of voter registration was another INEC project beset with problems. A first phase of voter registration was conducted in September 2002; there were widespread reports of hoarding of registration materials, fraud, intimidation and violence. INEC acknowledged the problems and scheduled a further three days of voter registration from January 21-23, 2003, only in centralized locations in the 774 local government areas rather than all 120,000 polling centers used in September. Fewer problems were reported in January, although the smaller number of registration centers doubtless posed a problem for voters in far-flung areas. In addition, many of the tens of thousands of Nigerians displaced by local conflicts will have been unable to register in their states of residence or at least their home local government areas; INEC does not appear to have made any provision for these voters. While there is no reliable estimate of the number of eligible voters who unsuccessfully attempted to register, undoubtedly a substantial number remain disenfranchised.

A major unresolved issue in the pre-election period has been the status of local governments. The three-year tenure of local governments elected in 1999 expired May 29, 2002, and state governors appointed local government caretaker committees in their stead. New elections were postponed twice and are now expected to take place soon after voting for the state houses of assembly on May 3, although no date had been set at the time of this writing. The ostensible reason for the delay was that INEC had still not produced a register of voters, which was necessary for the state electoral commissions to carry out their job. But many observers believed that INEC delayed production of the register in order to prevent local government elections that would reveal widespread disenchantment with the ruling party in advance of the gubernatorial and presidential elections.

The local government caretaker committees were widely perceived as exercising little independence, being controlled by their state's ruling party. There was some discussion of eliminating local governments altogether, and recently a constitutional amendment was introduced in the national assembly that would curtail the power of local governments. While serious issues of unaccountability and corruption were associated with local governments, reducing their powers rather than addressing the problems would not satisfy many Nigerians' aspirations for a level of government that they can attempt to influence relatively directly. Another issue that may bring more confusion and violence into the election process is the fact that many states have carved new local governments out of the 774 local governments recognized in the 1999 Constitution, without any federal legislative approval as foreseen by the Constitution. Especially when local government elections take place, frustration could lead to violence as factions dispute the proper jurisdictional boundaries.

INEC has had a tumultuous relationship with members of civil society. In the voter registration process, INEC undermined the participation of thousands of national observers by imposing a fee for individual observers at the last moment. Observers play an important role in establishing the legitimacy of the elections, and it is expected that their presence will deter certain types of violence and intimidation on election days. Therefore, INEC should coordinate with local and international observers as well as police with electoral duties to ensure that they reinforce one another's efforts.

¹⁹⁰ For more detail on election preparations, see Nigeria at the Crossroads: Human Rights Concerns in the Pre-election Period, A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, January 2003.

¹⁹¹ Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sched. 3, Part I, F.15.

¹⁹² See section below, VII. Role of Political Parties in Preventing Political Violence.