Can INEC hold credible polls during COVID-19?

“We have all got to learn to live with this virus, to do our business with this virus in our presence, to have social relations with this virus in our presence and not to be continuously having to be in a lockdown because of the widespread infections that can occur”

– The WHO’s special envoy for COVID-19, David Nabarro, on “Hardtalk” on British Broadcasting Corporation on April 21, 2020

On February 6, 2020, a couple of weeks before the index case of the Italian who tested positive for COVID-19 in Nigeria was discovered and made public, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced the dates for the Edo and Ondo governorship polls. According to the chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Edo governorship election would hold on September 19, while that of Ondo State would hold on October 10. The INEC chairman said the declaration was in pursuance of the provisions of Section 178(2) of the 1999 Constitution that states that INEC cannot hold elections earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of an incumbent governor. According to him, the tenures of the governors of Edo and Ondo states would end on November 12 and February 24, 2021 respectively.

By interpretation, INEC must conduct the governorship election in Edo State on or before October 13, 2020, while that of Ondo State must be conducted on or before January 25, 2021. However, given the fact that the elections may not be concluded on the first ballot as had happened in several elections in the past, the electoral management body decided to hold the elections before the last legally permissible date.

With the COVID-19 pandemic raging like wildfire across the country with over 6,000 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, concerns have been raised about public health safety should the polls be held on the announced dates. While INEC may postpone elections if there are natural disasters and threat to public safety as currently being witnessed in the country, there is a limit to the time of the postponement without risking a constitutional crisis.

Truth be told, INEC had earlier postponed Bayelsa Central, Bayelsa West, Imo North, and Plateau South Senatorial bye-elections following the outbreak of the disease. However, as the World Health Organisation had rightly observed, as highlighted in the quote above, the world may have to learn to live with COVID-19 as no one knows when a cure will be found for the raging pandemic. Thus, it is appropriate for INEC to make the necessary contingency plans to ensure that all outstanding elections are held without any further delay. However, in doing so, public safety must not be compromised neither the credibility of the polls. In case we do not know, on April 15, 2020, South Korea held its national elections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and it was hitch-free. Today, as you read this, Burundi, an African country, is holding its presidential poll as well.

In a report by Catherine Kim of VOX, published online on April 17, 2020, “On April 15, millions of people across South Korea donned face masks, rubber gloves, and with hand sanitisers to cast their votes in a nationwide election. Poll workers wore face protection, masks, and medical gloves. Upon arrival at the polling stations, voters’ temperatures were taken, and anyone showing signs of fever was taken to a more secluded area of the building to cast their ballots. Separate polling stations were set up outside of hospitals for people infected with Covid-19 to vote”.

Interestingly, INEC had vowed to carry on with the Edo and Ondo governorship elections as scheduled, a proposal I am in support of. For starters, the commission had asked its offices in the two states to open for business.  Recall that with effective from Tuesday, March 24, 2020, INEC had suspended all regular and non-essential activities in all its offices nationwide due to the threat of the novel coronavirus. In reopening however, the commission said this must be done in consultation with the relevant state governments for issuance of necessary permits.

INEC, in a memo last week, had directed as follows: “State offices should liaise with the various State COVID-19 Response secretariats on decontamination protocols for their respective state and LGA offices should remain closed and open only where/when necessary. All meetings in the commission should be limited to key participants and the duration of meetings be reduced to the necessary minimum. Where necessary, a combination of virtual and physical meetings should be held to minimise physical contacts; Zoom, Skype, Webinars and other Virtual interactive techniques will be explored and employed to meet internally and with external stakeholders. Commission meetings and other events should be held at the Conference Hall or any other outsourced hall where the two-metre social distancing can be maintained. Wearing of face masks is compulsory at every meeting and meeting venues must be decontaminated before and after every meeting”.

Elsewhere, I observed that going forward, politics and elections in Nigeria would no longer be business as usual. In coming up with the regulations and guidelines for the forthcoming elections, I propose that INEC and political parties should adapt global best practices.

For instances, I expect parties that will be conducting primaries to elect their torchbearers to strictly adhere to public health safety protocols as enunciated by the World Health Organisation, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. Wearing of face masks, handwashing, use of sanitisers and physical distancing should be non-negotiable at the venues of the party primaries. Aside from that, admittance into the venue of the elections could be in batches with the hall having not more than 50 per cent of the capacity.  The same protocols should be observed at the campaign rallies with candidates and political parties encouraged to adopt virtual campaigns than physical rallies. It will be most ideal to even have political parties adopting e-voting for their primaries. This may help to reduce the notorious phenomenon of vote-buying at party primaries.

During the elections, INEC will have to come up with new procedures for accreditation, voting, counting, collation and announcement of results. Public health safety protocols must be observed all through.  I have no doubt that INEC can hold credible elections during this COVID-19 pandemic if it gets its act together. The major challenge is just the enforcement of the public safety protocols.

I urge the commission to use one of the pending bye-elections to test-run how the actors and critical stakeholders will behave in a real live electoral contest during a pandemic such as we are. This will enable it to tighten the nuts and bolts of whatever lapses may occur during the bye-elections in order to plan better for bigger elections such as governorship polls.