35 parties want voters to disperse after voting

Thirty-five political parties on Friday said they were not satisfied with the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission asking voters to stay behind for monitoring after casting their votes.

The chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had asked the voters to stay at the polling stations after casting their votes until the ballots were counted.

While other leading political parties had lauded INEC position, the Peoples Democratic Party was of the opinion that INEC’s position was wrong.

At a news conference in Abuja, the 35 political parties, most of whom are not fielding candidates during the elections, rejected the INEC position.

The parties, under the aegis of Concerned Political Parties, said in the text of their conference read on their behalf by the national chairman of the African Renaissance Party, Mr. Yayaha Ndu, that they were rejecting the INEC directive for “vote and stay” order because it could lead to chaos.

They said, “The freedom of the voter to come, vote and go or stay cannot and should not be abridged by INEC or any other agency for that matter. This method implies that voters will be accredited from 8 am to 12.30 pm before voting commences.

“The congregation of voters of different political persuasions from 8 am to 12.30 pm is a recipe for chaos, anarchy and a ploy to truncate the April 2011 general elections.

“For example, the Delta State rerun election, which the INEC chairman cited as a successful example of this method, is on record that there were reports of violence, gunshots and even deaths.

“This indeed led the INEC chairman to visit Ughelli to announce the cancellation of the Ughelli result. Much to the chagrin of the stakeholders, the INEC chairman reversed the cancellation and upheld the result as earlier announced.”

The parties said they were opposed to plans by INEC to de-register any political party that did not win a house of assembly seat in the April elections.

They said, “This position as enshrined in the Electoral Act runs contrary to international norms and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, guaranteeing freedom of association, which these concerned political parties shall challenge in court very soon.”

Some of the political parties that signed the text of the press conference were the Action Alliance, Democratic Peoples Alliance, Justice Party, Action Congress for Democrats, Movement for Democracy and Justice, Better Nigeria Peoples Party, United Democratic Party and Congress for Democratic Change.