Anambra is worst in election participation says Yiaga Africa

ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – A civil Society Organisation,  Yiaga Africa has described  Anambra state as  the worst state when it comes to participation in the electoral process  in the history of governorship elections in the country.

Programme Manager of Yiaga Africa, Mr Paul James,   made the observation in Awka Anambra state on Wednesday while speaking to journalist  on the sidelines of a  programme to engage Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Leaders in the state on election monitoring and voters education.

He said the CSOs engagement is part of pre-election activities for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra. James said, according to records, in the 2015 Presidential election , over a million people (24 per cent), voted in Anambra, while in the 2017 governorship election in the state, the figure dropped to 21 per cent.

“It is sad that in the history of governorship elections in the country. Anambra state remains  the worst in terms of electoral participations.  In the 2019 Presidential election also, there was a little shift to 26 per cent in terms of participation. You begin to wonder why Anambra people are more interested in election at the centre and not the election in their state?” he said.

He said that the state may not get it right electorally until it develops interest in election participation. However, James identified poor education, electoral violence, voter inducement by political parties and lack of voter engagements, as some of the factors that contributed to lower electoral  participation in the state.

He urged the residents to become more  conscious in the electoral process of the state and not staying out of engagement. According to him, there was the need to foster collaborations among CSOs to drive citizens’ engagement and participation as well as build citizen’s confidence in the electoral process.

“We are engaging  CSOs to understand the political climate in Anambra, what to expect in the forthcoming election and to share our methodologies of election observation via Watching The Vote and  Parallel Vote Tabulation plans.

“Voter engagement, information and education is  very low in Anambra, especially education targeted at women, youths and persons with disabilities. We need to agree as stakeholders on how to improve voters education, engagement and mobilisation to change the narrative in the November 6 guber election. We have an opportunity to right the wrong, ” he said.

James urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to publish information on how to locate the new polling units and how to get permanent voter cards to make the process easy for the people. He also appealed to  political parties to get involved in voters education, saying that they command the highest number of followership. According to him, voters needed to  understand the need to make conscious efforts to participate in electoral process rather than sit on the fence

“Whether we like it or not, if you do not participate in the election, you do not have the moral right to question the kind governance you get. You are responsible for the kind of government you get, “James said