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Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should include candidates’ names and their pictures on ballot papers as it is done in Liberia.
In a statement on Tuesday, Samson Itodo, executive director of the organisation, said Yiaga deployed an election study and observation mission (ESOM) to understudy the electoral governance architecture in Liberia between October 7 and 13.
Itodo said during the elections, the team observed a firm commitment to transparency on the part of Liberia’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) in managing the results tallying process.
He said at the polling places and tallying centres, the NEC officials prioritised the openness of the process over the speedy completion of the process.
Yiaga said INEC should commit to greater transparency in election administration through proactive disclosure of election information and consistent application of election rules and guidelines.
The organisation also recommended that INEC should review the format of ballot papers used in Nigeria elections “to include photographs and names of candidates to improve the quality of electoral preferences and reduce invalidated votes”.