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Post-Election Press Statement on the Conduct of the 25 February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections - Women Fund
The Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund (NWTF) is a gender focus NGO created to increase the representation of women in Nigerian governance at all levels and address the growing concerns about the gender imbalance in elective and appointive positions.
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Post-Election Press Statement on the Conduct of the 25 February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections

Post-Election Press Statement on the Conduct of the 25 February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections

Preamble:

NWTF GEW deployed 400 accredited observers across seven states and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Abuja. The states are Adamawa, Kogi, Kano, Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, and Anambra with spread across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria for the Presidential and National Assembly Elections held on 25 February 2023.

NWTF GEW through the feedback from the observers deployed, the analysis of the feedback and as a follow up to its pre and interim press statements issued on 24 and 26 February 2023 respectively wishes to state as follows:

  1. Overall conduct of the elections: The conduct of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections has been largely peaceful and has witnessed the resilience of many Nigerians, especially women who participated as voters, poll officials and candidates. However, the challenges associated with the delays experienced in the opening of polls, pockets of disruption and the slow and untimely upload of results on the IREV remain strong concerns for Nigeria’s democracy.
  2. We acknowledge the efforts of the Election Management Body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC but ask for stronger efforts to consolidate on the gains made so far in the Nigeria’s electoral space and to continue to guarantee Nigerians that their votes truly count.
  3. Participation of women: The participation of women as voters, poll officials and candidates are highly commendable. Women are resilient and committed to a truly democratic process although the turnout of women need to continue to improve.
  4. Women and Violence: We are also worried at the kind of violence experienced by some female candidates and the electorate and condemn it in very strong terms while calling upon relevant security agencies to take action to forestall future occurrence.
  5. Security and Elections: The effort of the security agencies is commendable but needs more improvement to record zero security breaches and intimidation throughout the duration of elections specially to secure the confidence and participation of women in the electoral process.
  6. Priority Voting: The efforts of poll officials to uphold the priority voting impacted positively on the electorate as pregnant women, nursing mothers, the elderly as well as the physically challenged and women with disabilities were accorded priority to perform their civic responsibilities.
  7. BVAS and IREV. These are technological innovations that have added value to elections in Nigeria. In most polling units where observation took place, it was noted that the machines worked well and a few places where it did not work, it was fixed but resulting in a delayed start of polling which accounted for some of the voters including women leaving the queue to go back home without voting. The delayed upload of results was a challenge which impacted on the electorate.

GEW Recommends as follows:

  1. Nigeria’s electoral process obviously needs improvement. Every electoral stakeholder should take lessons from the elections for future policy making and programming and from a gender inclusion perspective.
  2. Women’s participation in the democratic process of Nigeria is critical to achieving a truly inclusive democratic process.  Women need to improve on their turn out in numbers and continue to be resilient.
  3. Participation of women as candidates in elections is a result of very long years of advocacy. GEW commends all the female candidates in these elections and recommends stringent security measures to protect female candidates in elections and the full application of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, (2015) on all perpetrators of acts of violence.
  4. Security should continue to comply with the requirements of the law on elections and uphold it to record zero intimidation of voters on election day. Women need to be assured of their safety during elections.
  5. The priority voting has remained valuable and should continue to be publicized and utilized to address the needs of vulnerable female voters – elderly, pregnant women, nursing mothers and women with disabilities.
  6. While commending technological innovations in elections, thorough testing is a necessity before affirmation to avoid irregularities that could mar an entire electoral process.

The Gender and Election Watch, (GEW) Room, is an initiative of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), an organization founded to close the gender gaps in governance in Nigeria. GEW is an election observation platform from a gender perspective. The GEW observed the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections which started on Saturday, 25 February 2023 and continued into the early hours of 26 February 2023.

Signed

Mufuliat Fijabi

Chief Executive Officer

For Gender and Election Watch (GEW) Room

of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF).

GEW Hotlines:

07047004443

07047004449

 

 

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